Patent ID: 8676383

Claim:
A method for processing biological or chemical samples comprising: denaturing samples in a first portion of a microtiter plate received in a sample block at a temperature T d1 by heating a first zone of the sample block, wherein a first thermo electric cooling device (TEC) provides heating and cooling; denaturing samples in a second portion of the microtiter plate at a temperature T d2 by heating a second zone of the sample block, wherein a second thermo electric cooling device (TEC) provides heating and cooling, providing at least one control unit electrically connected to the first thermo electric cooling device (TEC) and the second thermo electric cooling device (TEC), wherein the at least one control unit (a) stores temperatures T d1 and T d2 , and (b) controls the first thermo electric cooling device (TEC) and the second thermo electric cooling device (TEC) to maintain the first portion of the microtiter plate at temperature T d1 and maintain the second portion of the microtiter plate at temperature T d2 ; and further wherein the first zone and the second zone are thermally decoupled from one another and each of the first TEC and the second TEC are independently actuatable from the other.