Patent ID: 7964413
Filing Date: 2011-06-21
Classification: B01L,C12Q,G01N,Y10S,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A method for processing the contents of multiple reaction receptacles to quantitatively determine the amount of a target nucleic acid present in each of said reaction receptacles, said method comprising the automated steps of: a) successively providing said reaction receptacles to a temperature-controlled chamber of an incubator having a housing defining said temperature-controlled chamber, said housing including one or more closable receptacle access openings for moving the reaction receptacles into and out of said incubator, each reaction receptacle being provided with sample material and reagents sufficient to amplify and detect the presence of a target sequence, or its complement, contained within a target nucleic acid under the temperature conditions of said incubator, wherein successively providing the reaction receptacles to said the temperature-controlled chamber comprises, for each of the reaction receptacles provided, opening one of said receptacle access openings and moving the reaction receptacle through the opened receptacle access opening and into the temperature-controlled chamber and then closing the receptacle access opening, thereby permitting ambient light from within the analyzer to enter the temperature-controlled chamber of the incubator through the opened receptacle access opening; b) in said incubator, periodically measuring the amount of a signal associated with the presence of an amplification product containing said target sequence or its complement in each reaction receptacle provided to said incubator in accordance with step a); c) quantifying the amount of said target nucleic acid present in each reaction receptacle based upon said measurements obtained in step b); and d) successively removing reaction receptacles from the temperature-controlled chamber, wherein successively removing the reaction receptacles from said temperature-controlled chamber comprises, for each reaction receptacle removed from said temperature-controlled chamber, opening one of said receptacle access openings and moving the reaction receptacle through the opened receptacle access opening and out of said temperature-controlled chamber of said incubator and then closing the receptacle access opening, thereby permitting ambient light from within the analyzer to enter the temperature-controlled chamber of the incubator through the opened receptacle access opening, wherein reaction receptacles are being successively provided to said incubator in accordance with step a) as the contents of reaction receptacles previously provided to said incubator are being processed in accordance with steps b)-c).