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EP0131934A2 Expired / Lapsed EP ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

An assay cartridge

Assignee: Abbott Laboratories
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Filing: 1984-07-13
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2004-07-13
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Abstract

Abstract An assay cartridge is disclosed which has a substantially rectangular base plate (10), a substantially rectangular top plate (35), and four side walls (65, 66). The top plate (35) has a plurality of aligned adjacent reaction wells (39) located on its top side. Each well (39) has a hole at its bottom which opens into a waste reservoir (76) which is the space inside of the base plate (10), top plate (35) and four walls (65,66). A filter membrane (71) is positioned against the underside of the top plate (35) covering the well holes. A port (26) through the base plate (10) allows reducing the pressure in the waste reservoir (76) relative to the pressure over the wells (39) for drawing the liquid phase of a reaction from the well (39) through the filter (71) and into the waste reservoir (76).

Inventors

  • 👤 Michael Ernest Jolley

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction EP
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-10-31 12:20
CPC Classifications
B; B01; B01L; B01L3/00; B01L3/50; B01L3/502; B01L3/5025; B01L3/50255; B01D; B01D61/00; B01D61/14; B01D61/18; G; G01; G01N; G01N33/00; G01N33/48; G01N33/50; G01N33/53; G01N33/5302; G01N33/5304; Y; Y10; Y10T; Y10T436/00; Y10T436/25; Y10T436/25375

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 16
Claim 1
Independent Claim 205 words
An assay cartridge comprising: a substantially rectangular base plate (10); a substantially rectangular top plate (35) having a top side (36) and an underside (37), the top plate (35) located opposite to and substantially parallel to the base plate (10), the top plate (35) having a plurality of aligned adjacent wells (39) located on its top side (36), each well (39) having a hole (40) at its bottom which extends to the underside (37) of the top plate (35): rear (65), front (66) and first (67) and second (68) walls serially joined to one another, said joined walls having a substantially rectangular cross section, the serially joined walls positioned between and joined to the base plate (10) and top plate (35); a waste reservoir (76) located beneath the wells (39) of the top plate (35) and inside the joined base plate (10), top plate (35) and four walls (65, 66, 67, 68); a filter membrane (71) positioned against the portion of the underside (37) of the top plate (35) to which well holes (40) extend; and means (26, 27) for reducing the pressure in the waste reservoir (76) relative to the pressure over the wells while retaining any waste products in the waste reservoir (76).
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 205 words
An assay cartridge comprising: a substantially rectangular base plate (10); a substantially rectangular top plate (35) having a top side (36) and an underside (37), the top plate (35) located opposite to and substantially parallel to the base plate (10), the top plate (35) having a plurality of aligned adjacent wells (39) located on its top side (36), each well (39) having a hole (40) at its bottom which extends to the underside (37) of the top plate (35): rear (65), front (66) and first (67) and second (68) walls serially joined to one another, said joined walls having a substantially rectangular cross section, the serially joined walls positioned between and joined to the base plate (10) and top plate (35); a waste reservoir (76) located beneath the wells (39) of the top plate (35) and inside the joined base plate (10), top plate (35) and four walls (65, 66, 67, 68); a filter membrane (71) positioned against the portion of the underside (37) of the top plate (35) to which well holes (40) extend; and means (26, 27) for reducing the pressure in the waste reservoir (76) relative to the pressure over the wells while retaining any waste products in the waste reservoir (76).
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 24 words
The assay cartridge of claim 1,wherein the filter membrane (71) is joined to said portion of the underside (37) of said top plate (35).
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 56 words
The assay cartridge of claim 1 or 2, wherein the means for reducing pressure in the reservoir (76) relative to the pressure over the wells (39) while retaining any waste products in the waste reservoir (76) comprises a port (26) which comprises an opening (27) through the base plate (10) and into the waste reservoir (76).
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 22 words
The assay cartridge of claim 3, wherein the port (26) further comprises a tube (27) which extends into the waste reservoir (76).
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 33 words
The assay cartridge according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the wells (39) further comprise upper walls (41) having a cylindrical shape and lower walls (42) having an inverted frustum shape.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 29 words
The assay cartridge according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the base plate (10), top plate (35), and four side walls (65 ... 68) are molded plastic.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 14 words
The assay cartridge of claim 6, wherein the plastic is acrylic, polystyrene, or polycarbonate.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 26 words
The assay cartridge according to any of claims 1 to 7, wherein the filter membrane (71) has a pore size of about 10 microns or less.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 32 words
The assay cartridge according to any of claims 1 to 8, wherein the filter membrane (71) is cellulose acetate, nitrocellulose, polyvinylidene fluoride, polyvinyl chloride, teflon, polysulfone, polyester, polycarbonate, paper or glass fiber.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim 188 words
The assay cartridge according to any of claims 1 to 9, wherein the base plate (10) further comprises rear (11), front (12) and first (13) and second (14) flat base plate lateral surfaces, the top plate (35) further comprises rear (48), front (49) and first (50) and second (51) flat top plate lateral surfaces, the rear (65), front (66) and first (67) and second (68) walls further comprise respectively rear (76), front (77) and first (78) and second (79) flat wall lateral surfaces, the rear base plate lateral surface (11), the rear top plate lateral surface (48), and the rear wall lateral surface (76) being contiguous and substantially parallel, the front base plate lateral surface (12), -the front top plate lateral surface (49), and the front wall lateral surface (77) being contiguous and substantially parallel, the first base plate lateral surface (13), the first top plate lateral surface (50), and the first wall lateral surface (78) being contiguous and substantially parallel, and the second base plate lateral surface (14), the second top plate lateral surface (51), and the second wall lateral surface (79) being contiguous and substantially parallel.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim 112 words
The assay cartridge of claim 10, wherein the rear wall lateral surface (76) is laterally recessed relative to the rear base plate lateral surface (11) and the rear top plate lateral surface (48), the front wall lateral surface (77) is laterally recessed relative to the front base plate lateral surface (12) and the front top plate lateral surface (49), the first wall lateral surface (78) is laterally recessed relative to the first base plate lateral surface (13) and the first top plate lateral surface (50), and the second wall lateral surface (79) is laterally recessed relative to the second base plate lateral surface (14) and the second top plate lateral surface (51).
Claim 13
Dependent Claim 48 words
The assay cartridge of claim 11, wherein the assay cartridge further comprises rear (82) and front (83) centering pegs, said rear (82) and front (83) centering pegs extending laterally outward respectively from the rear (76) and front (77) wall lateral surfaces and being substantially opposed to one another.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim 139 words
The assay cartridge according to any of claims 10 to 12, wherein the base plate further comprises first (15) and second (16) flat base plate corner surfaces, the first base plate corner surface (15) located between the first base plate lateral surface (13) and the front base plate lateral surface (12), the second base plate corner surface (16) located between the second base plate lateral surface (14) and the front base plate lateral surface (12), and the top plate (35) further comprises first (52) and second (53) top plate corner surfaces, the first top plate corner surface (52) located between the first top plate lateral surface (50) and the front top plate lateral surface (49), the second top plate corner surface (53) located between the second top plate lateral surface (51) and the front top plate lateral surface (49).
Claim 15
Dependent Claim 121 words
The assay cartridge of claim 13, wherein the top plate (35) further comprises a top plate raised ridge (55) along the upper periphery of the front (49), rear (48), first (50) and second (51) top plate lateral surfaces and the first (52) and second (53) top plate corner surfaces, the base plate further comprises a base plate raised ridge (17) along the lower periphery of the front (12), rear (11), first (13) and second (14) base plate lateral surfaces and the first (15) and second (16) base plate corner surfaces, and the top plate raised ridge (55) and the base plate raised ridge (17) having substantially similar configurations and one raised ridge having slightly smaller dimensions than the other raised ridge.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim 46 words
The assay cartridge of claim 14, wherein the base plate (10) further comprises a base plate underside (18) and a channel (19) located along the outer periphery of the base plate underside (18) and between the base plate underside (18) and the base plate ridge (17).

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