Patent ID: 7504241

Claim:
A method comprising: positioning a sealed vessel in at least one sample well, the sealed vessel comprising a top and containing a polymerase chain reaction sample mixture having a concentration, wherein the polymerase chain reaction mixture comprises DNA and at least two primers complementary to the DNA to create extension products of the DNA; thermal cycling the polymerase chain reaction sample mixture in the sealed vessel received in the sample well, through many polymerase chain reaction cycles; and contacting the top of the sealed vessel with the platen while heating the platen so that the platen is kept at a temperature from 94° C. to 110° C. during the many polymerase chain reaction cycles and condensation and evaporation of the sample mixture within the sealed vessel is avoided during the many polymerase chain reaction cycles such that the polymerase chain reaction sample mixture concentration is controlled through the many polymerase chain reaction cycles.