Patent ID: 7261800

Claim:
A method of in situ electrophoresis of biological samples comprising: preparing a sample plate and a gel plate, said sample plate being moved from a sample plate storage area in a first direction, said gel plate being moved from a gel plate storage area in a direction opposite said first direction to an application station; applying reagent onto said gel plate; moving an applicator to said sample plate so as to receive a sample onto said applicator; moving said applicator toward said gel plate such that at least a portion of said sample on said applicator is loaded onto said gel plate, said sample plate being moved to a used sample plate storage area, the sample-loaded gel plate being moved to an electrophoresis station adjacent said application station; electrophoresing the sample-loaded gel plate, the electrophoresed gel plate being moved to a staining station adjacent said electrophoresis station; staining the electrophoresed gel plate, the stained gel plate being moved to a scanning station adjacent said staining station; and scanning the stained gel plate so as to electronically analyze a band in the gel of said gel plate, the scanned gel plate being moved to a gel plate disposal unit.