Patent ID: 7993910

Claim:
A cycler for DNA amplification, comprising: a structure to hold a sample of material including having double stranded DNA for conversion into single strand DNA for amplification, a polymerase enzyme, nucleosides and primers; a holder configured to hold said structure, said holder being formed of solid material; a source of sonic energy in contact with said holder to transmit sonic energy through said holder to said structure and to said material, said source being operative to transmit sonic energy at a frequency, at an energy level and at a duty cycle to dissociate said double stranded DNA into said single stranded DNA without raising the temperature of the double stranded DNA to a temperature at which thermal denaturation will occur; a controller connected to said source, said controller being configured to supply control signals to said source at a duty cycle in which said source is first activated to cause said source to generate sonic energy at a frequency and at an energy level and for a time sufficient to effect dissociation of double stranded DNA without raising the temperature of a sample in said structure to cause thermal denaturation thereof, and in which said source is next deactivated for a period of time selected for amplification of said single stranded DNA.