Abstract: A bead dispensing system is provided for delivering small amounts of substances onto substrates. The system can include, for example, a movable support structure having an array of spaced-apart projections depending from its lower side. An attraction source, such as a vacuum, magnetic, and/or electrostatic force, is operable at each projection end region to attract and retain one bead. The projection array can be aligned with an array of bead-receiving regions of a substrate, e.g., an array of spaced-apart wells of a micro-plate or card. In one embodiment, a plurality of reagent-carrying beads are picked up, retained at respective projection end regions, and moved to a location over a multi-well plate. The beads are then released in a fashion permitting each bead to land in a respective well. The system of the invention is particularly useful for fabricating arrays of reagents.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method and apparatus for dispensing a small volume of a selected liquid, such as a biological sample or reagent, onto a substrate. The device includes a tube adapted to contain the liquid. An elongated fiber is disposed within the tube for axial movement therein between raised and lowered positions. Upon shifting or oscillating the fiber between its raised and lowered positions, a liquid spot can be formed at a selected position on the substrate. The device is readily adaptable for the production of micro-arrays having a great number of individual spots.

Abstract: The invention relates to methods and compositions for the detection of targets in a sample.

Abstract: The device for detecting the binding of two chemical species includes a first plate having a base, multiple optical fibers and a second plate. The base has multiple grooves formed therein. The multiple optical fibers are each disposed within a corresponding one of the multiple grooves. The second plate has multiple channels formed therein. The first plate and the second plate are configured to be placed adjacent to one another such that each the optical fiber is exposed to and traverses the multiple channels.

Abstract: The system includes a bundle of elongate optical fibers, multiple probes, a well, a light source and a detector. The optical fibers each have a first end remote from a second end. Each of the multiple probes is attached to one of the optical fibers within a predetermined section between each of the optical fiber's first and second ends. The well is configured to hold a solution comprising a target and to receive at least the predetermined section of each of the optical fibers. The light source is configured to direct light into the first end of each of the optical fibers. Finally, the detector is configured to detect light emitted by the binding of the target to at least one of the multiple probes. In some embodiments, there are multiple bundles and multiple wells.

Abstract: A system for storing and dispensing a plurality of vessels (54). The system includes an array of storage silos (44) or passages operable to store the plurality of vessels (54) where the storage silos have a dispensing end and a reloading end. A retrieval robot (22) is positioned adjacent to the dispensing end of the array of storage silos and is operable to retrieve at least one vessel (54) from at least one silo (44) in the array of storage silos. A reload robot (26) is positioned adjacent the reload end of the army of storage silos (44) and is operable to reload at least one vessel (54) into at least one silo (44) in said array of storage silos (44).

Abstract: The Laser Pulse Sampler (LPS) measures temporal pulse shape without the problems of a streak camera. Unlike the streak camera, the laser pulse directly illuminates a camera in the LPS, i.e., no additional equipment or energy conversions are required. The LPS has several advantages over streak cameras. The dynamic range of the LPS is limited only by the range of its camera, which for a cooled camera can be as high as 16 bits, i.e., 65,536. The LPS costs less because there are fewer components, and those components can be mass produced. The LPS is easier to calibrate and maintain because there is only one energy conversion, i.e., photons to electrons, in the camera.