Abstract: A lateral flow test strip reader for reading an output of a lateral flow assay to determine a presence or absence of a target in a sample includes: a housing having a lateral flow test strip receptacle for receiving a lateral flow test strip therein, the lateral flow test strip receptacle defining a test region and a control region for a lateral flow test strip; a light source that generates an excitation light beam; at least one lens for optically expanding the excitation light beam in a direction across the test region and the control region such that the excitation light beam is configured to simultaneously impinge and excite both the test region and the control region; and an optical detector configured to simultaneously detect an image comprising emission signals from the test region and the control region, wherein the detected emission signals indicate a presence or absence of a target in the sample.

Abstract: Instrumentation and a method for efficient and reliable assaying and measuring samples. The teachings include an automated self-contained instrument, wherein the samples are located on wells of sample plates, and the instrument includes a plurality of units for processing or storing sample plates. The instrument may includes at least one dispensing unit for dispensing reagents or other assay components to the sample wells, at least two units for simultaneously processing or storing a plurality of sample plates, at least one unit for removing substance from the sample wells, and one or several measurement units for optically measuring samples in at least two measurement modes. Further, the instrument includes a manipulator for moving the sample plates in three orthogonal directions or combinations thereof and for rotating the sample plates in relation to a vertical axis for transferring the sample plates to the units.

Abstract: One object of the invention is to provide instrumentation and a method for efficient and reliable assaying and measuring samples. The teachings include an automated self-contained instrument for assaying and measuring samples, wherein the samples are located on wells of sample plates, and the instrument comprises a plurality of units for processing or storing sample plates. The instrument according to the teaching may comprise at least one dispensing unit for dispensing reagents or other assay components to the sample wells, at least two units for simultaneously processing or storing a plurality of sample plates, at least one unit for removing substance from the sample wells, and one or several measurement units, the measurement unit(s) providing a capability for the instrument to optically measure samples in at least two measurement modes.

Abstract: The invention applies to the binning procedure of data, which is measured with a CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) sensor unit. There is created a solution for measurement of radiation, in which a good signal-to-noise value is achieved, and still it is possible to exploit standard CCD units. This is achieved by selecting the binning areas on the basis of position of defected pixels (461, 462) in a CCD unit (411). One idea is to determine the locations of the defected pixels and to use this information for determining pixel groups that form the super pixels. In a preferable embodiment super pixels (A1–A5, B1–B5, C1–C5, D1–D5, E1–E5) are first determined using a selected binning factor, and those super pixels that would be affected by defected pixels are then reduced into one or more smaller super pixels (B2i–E2i, B2k–E2k, C4i–E4i), which are not affected by the defects.

Abstract: The invention applies to the binning procedure of data, which is measured with a CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) sensor unit. There is created a solution for measurement of radiation, in which a good signal-to-noise value is achieved, and still it is possible to exploit standard CCD units. This is achieved by selecting the binning areas on the basis of position of defected pixels (461, 462) in a CCD unit (411). One idea is to determine the locations of the defected pixels and to use this information for determining pixel groups that form the super pixels. In a preferable embodiment super pixels (A1-A5, B1-B5, C1-C5, D1-D5, E1-E5) are first determined using a selected binning factor, and those super pixels that would be affected by defected pixels are then reduced into one or more smaller super pixels (B2i-E2i, B2k-E2k, C4i-E4i), which are not affected by the defects.