Patent ID: 8772016

Claim:
An analysis instrument comprising: a) a station for receiving a sealed environmental strip having a plurality of individually sealed chambers, each chamber having a bottom, a top, and sidewalls, the top of each chamber sealed with a sealing film; wherein a single chip carrier comprising an analysis chip is disposed within each chamber; b) an automated chip extractor comprising (i) a piercing tool that pierces the sealing layer of at least one of the chambers; and (ii) an extraction tool that extracts the chip carrier from the chamber and transports the chip carrier comprising the analysis chip to an automated processing station; c) an automated processing station that prepares the chips for analysis by adding at least one reagent, and at least one sample to the chip; d) a tool for transporting the chip carrier comprising the analysis chip from the processing station to an analysis station; and e) an analysis station which holds the chip carrier comprising the analysis chip in place during analysis.