Optical systems and methods for biological analysis

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9702823-B2
Application number	US-201214348878-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 28, 2012
Priority date	Sep 30, 2011
Publication date	Jul 11, 2017
Grant date	Jul 11, 2017

Abstract

An instrument for processing and/or measuring a biological process contains an excitation source, a sample holder, an optical sensor, an excitation optical system, and an emission optical system. The sample holder is configured to receive a plurality of biological samples. The optical sensor is configured to receive an emission from the biological samples. The excitation optical system is disposed along an excitation optical path and is configured to direct the electromagnetic radiation from the excitation source to the biological samples. The emission optical system is disposed along an emission optical path and is configured to direct electromagnetic emissions from the biological samples to the optical sensor. The instrument further contains a plurality of filter assemblies configured to be interchangeably located along at least one of the optical paths. The plurality of filter components includes a first filter assembly characterized by a first optical power and a first filter having a first filter function, the first filter function characterized by at least one of a first low-pass wavelength or a first high-pass wavelength. The second filter assembly is characterized by a second optical power and a second filter having a second filter function, the second filter function comprising at least one of a second low-pass wavelength that is different than the first low-pass wavelength or a second high-pass wavelength that is different than the first high-pass wavelength.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An instrument for biological analysis, comprising:
an excitation source producing electromagnetic radiation;
a sample holder configured to receive a plurality of biological samples;
an optical sensor configured to receive an emission from the biological samples;
an excitation optical system disposed along an excitation optical path and configured to direct the electromagnetic radiation from the excitation source to the biological samples;
an emission optical system disposed along an emission optical path and configured to direct electromagnetic emissions from the biological samples to the optical sensor;
a filter assembly comprising a plurality of filter components, the plurality of filter components comprising:
a first filter component having no optical power, the first filter component consisting of a first filter characterized by at least one of (a) a first low-pass wavelength or (b) a first high-pass wavelength;
a second filter component characterized by a finite focal length, the second filter comprising a singlet lens and a second filter characterized by at least one of (a) a second low-pass wavelength that is different than the first low-pass wavelength or (b) a second high-pass wavelength that is different than the first high-pass wavelength;
wherein the filter assembly selectively locates the plurality of filter components into the emission optical path;
wherein the singlet lens changes an effective focal length of the emission optical system and a magnification of the emission optical system.

2. The instrument of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of filter components includes a third filter component comprising a third optical power and a third filter function.

3. The instrument of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of filter components has a first condition in which the first filter component is disposed along the emission optical path and a second condition in which second filter component is disposed along the emission optical path, the optical power being sufficient to at least partially compensate for an aberration introduced by the second filter.

4. The instrument of claim 3 , wherein the aberration is a chromatic aberration.

5. The instrument of claim 1 , further comprising a first lens element and a second lens element, the lens elements having positive optical power and disposed along the emission optical path, the first lens element disposed between the optical sensor and one of the filter component, the second lens element disposed between the one of the filter components and the sample holder.

6. The instrument of claim 5 , wherein the second lens element is disposed along the excitation optical path.

7. The instrument of claim 5 , further comprising a beamsplitter disposed along the emission optical path, the second lens element and the beamsplitter disposed along the excitation optical path.

8. The instrument of claim 1 , wherein the optical sensor comprises a charge coupled device CCD detector array or a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor CMOS detector array comprising at least 4,000,000 pixels.

9. The instrument of claim 1 , wherein the instrument is a real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) instrument.

10. The instrument of claim 1 , further comprising a thermal control unit configured to control the temperature of the biological samples.

Assignees

• Life Technologies Corp

Inventors

• Maher Kevin
• Chen Mingsong
• Freudenthal Jacob
• Boo Kuan Moon
• Lau Soo Yong
• Fortescue David
• Shen Ming
• Soh Woon Liang Terence

Classifications

• G01N21/6428

  Measuring fluorescence of fluorescent products of reactions or of fluorochrome labelled reactive substances, e.g. measuring quenching effects, using measuring "optrodes" (in vivo A61B5/00; immunoassay G01N33/53) · CPC title

• G01N21/6486 Primary

  Measuring fluorescence of biological material, e.g. DNA, RNA, cells (G01N21/6428 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01N2021/6471

  Special filters, filter wheel · CPC title

• G01N21/6452 Primary

  Individual samples arranged in a regular 2D-array, e.g. multiwell plates · CPC title

• G01N2021/6478

  Special lenses · CPC title