Patent ID: 7364907

Claim:
A method of sorting samples, the method comprising: a) providing at least one source unit having a first footprint and comprising a plurality of sample containers disposed in a first plurality of apertures, and at least one destination unit having a second footprint and comprising a second plurality of apertures, wherein the second footprint differs in size from the first footprint and/or the second plurality of apertures differs in number from the first plurality of apertures, and wherein either or both the first plurality of apertures and the second plurality of apertures are configured to correspond to a spatial arrangement of apertures of a standard 96 well microtiter plate or a standard 384-well microtiter plate; b) selectively transferring one or more of the plurality of sample containers to the destination unit using at least one automatic sorting mechanism, based upon one or more selected criteria, wherein the selected criteria comprise one or more sample descriptors and wherein samples comprising at least one common sample descriptor are grouped together in one or more destination units, and wherein the sample descriptors comprise a level of sample purity; and, c) repeating (a)-(b) at least once, thereby sorting the samples.