Patent ID: 7081226

Claim:
A system for performing PCR and monitoring the reaction during temperature cycling comprising; a chamber; a plurality of sample containers each for holding a PCR sample, each sample container comprising walls composed of an optically transparent material and defining a volume having a first and second dimension, wherein the first dimension is less than the second dimension and the ratio of volume to external surface area of the container is less than 1 mm, each sample container formed for holding a maximum volume of 1 milliliter of a sample; a rotatable carousel rotatably mounted within said chamber and formed for holding said plurality of samples, wherein said carousel moves the sample containers one by one to a monitoring position located within said chamber; a forced air heater for simultaneously heating all the PCR samples in the carousel; means for simultaneously cooling all the PCR samples in the carousel; control means for repeatedly operating the forced air heater and the means for cooling to subject the PCR sample to thermal cycling within said chamber; means for optically exciting the sample in the monitoring position to cause the sample to fluoresce; and means for detecting the fluorescence of the excited sample during amplification when the sample is in the monitoring position.