Automatic necleic acid purification apparatus and method for aerosol-protecting

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9273306-B2
Application number	US-201113885556-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 18, 2011
Priority date	Nov 18, 2010
Publication date	Mar 1, 2016
Grant date	Mar 1, 2016

Abstract

Disclosed is an automatic nucleic acid purification apparatus which can prevent pollution due to aerosol generated from a biological sample containing high concentration target nucleic acid when the biological sample containing the high concentration target nucleic acid is mixed with other biological sample containing low concentration target nucleic acid or not containing the target nucleic acid. Further, disclosed is an automatic nucleic acid purification apparatus which can be applied to all kinds of nucleic acid purification equipments for purifying a plurality of biological samples using a magnet rode or a multi-pipette block moving in two or three axial directions, and which can minimize pollution due to the aerosol generated from the biological sample containing high concentration target nucleic acid and also can obtain accurate results.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An automatic purification apparatus for isolating target nucleic acids from a plurality of biological samples, comprising:
a purification block 110 moving vertically and horizontally, wherein a plurality of pipettes P or a plurality of magnet rod tubes are installed in the purification block 110 ;
a solution drip tray 1050 disposed apart from lower ends of the plurality of pipettes P or the plurality of magnet rod tubes, wherein the solution drip tray 1050 is movable to a first position where the solution drip tray 1050 can receive solution drips from the plurality of pipettes P or the plurality of magnet rod tubes and a second position where the solution drip tray 1050 can avoid in contact with plurality of pipettes P or the plurality of magnet rod tubes when the purification block 110 is moved down; and
an aerosol prevention part 1070 which is disposed on an outer surface of the purification block 110 and vertically movable with respect to the purification block along the outer surface of the purification block,
wherein the aerosol prevention part 1070 moves downward so that an end portion of the aerosol prevention part 1070 is tightly contacted with the solution drip tray 1050 to cover smeared portions of the plurality of pipettes P or the plurality of magnet rod tubes when the solution drip tray moves to the first position,
wherein the smeared portions of the plurality of pipettes P or the plurality of magnet rod tubes are smeared with a solution containing the target nucleic acid, so that the portions of the plurality of pipettes P or the plurality of magnet rod tubes are covered from the outside.

2. The automatic purification apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the aerosol prevention part 1070 has a rectangular box shape and comprises a first side plate 73 - 1 , a third side plate 73 - 2 for aerosol prevention part facing the first side plate 73 - 1 , a second side plate 75 - 1 of which both side ends are connected with the first and third side plates 73 - 1 and 73 - 2 , and a fourth side plate 75 - 2 facing the second side plate 75 - 1 , of which both side ends are connected with the first and third side plates 73 - 1 and 73 - 2 and wherein a lower end of the fourth side plate 75 - 2 is located at higher position than a lower end of the second side plate 75 - 1 , and
the solution drip tray 1050 comprises a lower plate 51 , a first tightly-contacting plate 53 - 1 extended upwardly from the lower plate 51 and tightly contacting an outer surface of a lower portion of the first side plate 73 - 1 when the solution drip tray 1050 moves to the first position, a second tightly-contacting plate 55 - 1 extended upwardly from the lower plate 51 and tightly contacting an inner surface of a lower portion of the second side plate 75 - 1 when the solution drip tray 1050 moves to the first position, a third tightly-contacting plate 53 - 2 extended upwardly from the lower plate 51 and tightly contacting an outer surface of a lower portion of the third side plate 73 - 2 when the solution drip tray 1050 moves to the first position, and a fourth tightly-contacting plate 55 - 2 extended upwardly from the lower plate 51 and tightly contacting an inner surface of a lower portion of the second side plate 75 - 2 when the solution drip tray 1050 moves to the first position.

3. The automatic purification apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the solution drip tray 1050 has a flat plate shape, and the aerosol prevention part 1070 has a box shape and disposed to be moved to up and down directions of the purification block 110 , such that an upper inner surface thereof is tightly contacted with the purification block 110 and a lower end thereof is tightly contacted with the solution drip tray 1050 when the aerosol prevention part 1070 moves to the first position.

4. The automatic purification apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the solution drip tray 1050 comprises a lower plate 251 and a side plate 253 extended from an edge portion of the lower plate 251 ,
the aerosol prevention part 1070 is disposed on the outer surface of the purification block 110 and vertically movable along the outer surface of the purification block, and
an upper inner surface of the aerosol prevention part 1070 is tightly contacted with the OUTER surface of the purification block 110 and a lower end of the aerosol prevention part 1070 is tightly contacted with the solution drip tray 1050 when the aerosol prevention part 1070 moves to the first position.

5. The automatic purification apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the solution drip tray 1050 comprises a lower plate 251 and a side plate 253 extended from an edge portion of the lower plate 251 ,
the aerosol prevention part 1070 is disposed on the outer surface of the purification block 110 and vertically movable along the outer surface of the purification block, and
an upper inner surface of the aerosol prevention part 1070 is tightly contacted with the outer surface of the purification block 110 and a lower end of the aerosol prevention part 1070 is tightly contacted with the lower plate for solution drip tray and both side ends of an opened circumferential surface thereof are tightly contacted with the side plate 253 , when the purification block 110 moves to the first position.

6. The automatic purification apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the solution drip tray 1050 comprises a lower plate 351 , a first side plate 353 - 1 extended from a first edge portion of the lower plate 351 , and a second side plate 353 - 2 extended from a second edge portion of the lower plate 351 , wherein the first edge portion and the second edge portion face each other, and
the aerosol prevention part 1070 is disposed on the outer surface of the purification block 110 and vertically movable along the outer surface of the purification block, and comprises a first side plate 373 - 1 and a second side plate 373 - 2 facing the first side plate 373 - 1 , wherein both of the first and second side plates 373 - 1 and 373 - 2 are expanded perpendicular to the first and second side plates 353 - 1 and 353 - 2 ,
upper inner surfaces of the aerosol prevention part 1070 are tightly contacted with the outer surface of the purification block 110 , lower ends of the aerosol prevention part 1070 are tightly contacted with the lower plate 351 , and both edges of the first and second side plates 373 - 1 and 373 - 2 of the aerosol prevention part 101 are tightly contacted with the first and second side plates 353 - 1 and 353 - 2 , when the aerosol prevention part 1070 moves to the first position.

7. The automatic purification apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the solution drip tray 1050 comprises a lower plate 351 , a first side plate 353 - 1 extended from a first edge portion of the lower plate 351 and a second side plate 353 - 2 extended from a second edge portion of the lower plate 351 , wherein both of the first and second side plates 373 - 1 and 373 - 2 are expanded perpendicular to the first and second side plate 353 - 1 and 353 - 2 ,
the aerosol prevention part 1070 is disposed on the outer surface of the purification block 110 and vertically movable along the outer surface of the purification block, and
upper inner surfaces of the aerosol prevention part 1070 are tightly contacted with the outer surface of the purification block 110 , lower ends of the aerosol prevention part 1070 are tightly contacted with the lower plate 351 , and both edges of the first and second side plates 373 - 1 and 373 - 2 of the aerosol prevention part 1070 are tightly contacted with the first and second the side plates 353 -

Assignees

• Park Han Oh
• Jeong Byung Rae
• Kim Kwon Sic
• Bioneer Corp

Inventors

• Park Han Oh
• Jeong Byung Rae
• Kim Kwon Sic

Classifications

• C12Q1/6802

  Chemistry & Metallurgy · mapped topic

• C12N15/1013 Primary

  by using magnetic beads · CPC title

• C12Q1/68 Primary

  involving nucleic acids · CPC title

• C12Q1/6848

  characterised by the means for preventing contamination or increasing the specificity or sensitivity of an amplification reaction · CPC title