Patent ID: 7785536

Claim:
A system for identifying a test chemical with a biological activity, the system comprising: a) a plate containing at least 96 addressable wells, a well retriever, and having programmable selection and retrieval of said addressable wells, at least selected addressable wells of said 96 addressable wells containing an aqueous reagent mixture comprising a cell, a photon producing agent, and at least one photon reducing agent; wherein said at least one photon reducing agent is substantially cell membrane impermeant and does not specifically bind to said cell membrane, and wherein said at least one photon reducing agent is present in said aqueous reagent mixture at an amount sufficient to reduce light emitted from said aqueous reagent mixture by at least 10% compared to the light emitted from said aqueous reagent mixture in the absence of said photon reducing agent; b) a distribution module for handling assay solutions comprising a liquid handler to aspirate or dispense assay solutions into selected addressable wells and programmable dispensation into selected addressable wells; c) a transporter to transport said selected addressable wells to said distribution module and optionally having programmable control of transport of said selected addressable wells; d) a reaction module comprising a reagent dispenser to dispense reagents into said selected addressable wells, wherein at least one said reagents includes said test chemical; and e) a fluorescent detector to detect chemical reactions in said selected addressable wells, wherein said plate, said distribution module, said reaction module, and said detector are integrated and programmably controllable; and wherein said plate, said distribution module, said transporter, said reaction module, and said detector are operably linked to facilitate rapid processing of said addressable wells.