A housing for a simulation chamber having a chamber body, a door arranged on the chamber body, and a controller housing, wherein the controller housing is arranged on the chamber body and comprises an outer surface, an inner surface, and at least one side surface, in that the door comprises an outer surface, an inner surface, and at least five side surfaces, wherein the controller housing is arranged on the chamber body in such a manner that, when the door is closed, at least one of the side surfaces of the door is arranged facing at least one of the side surfaces of the controller housing.

Provided herein are pipette tip rack assemblies in which a plurality of pipette tip racks are contained within a transparent or translucent non-porous container. Also provided are methods for using and manufacturing pipette tip rack assemblies described herein.

A composition, including a substrate having a planar array of depressions each defined by concave walls and a moat disposed around each depression of said array of depressions.

The present invention is related to the field of microfluidics and compound distribution within microfluidic devices and their associated systems. In one embodiment, present invention aims to solve the problem of molecule and compound absorbency into the materials making up laboratory equipment, microfluidic devices and their related infrastructure, without unduly restricting gas transport within microfluidic devices.

Provided is a specimen collection tip having a novel structure, with which it is possible to collect a trace amount of a specimen with good quantitative precision. Also provided is a specimen preparation container having a novel structure, with which it is possible to dilute and prepare the specimen collected with the specimen collection tip with good quantitative precision. A specimen collection tip 10, wherein a specimen holding region 12 having a predetermined volume is provided inside the specimen collection tip 10, and in a distal end portion extending from a support part 15, there is formed a specimen collection hole 22 and an air vent hole 24 placing the specimen holding region 12 in communication with a surface 23. Also, a specimen preparation container 26 with a cap 30, wherein the specimen collection tip 10 is attached to the cap 30 at the support part 15.

A microfluidic chip for partitioning a liquid composition into multiple aliquots has a processing compartment including an inlet and an outlet, wherein the outlet of the processing compartment is connected either to an inlet of the compression compartment or wherein in case a compression channel is present, the outlet of the processing compartment is connected to the compression channel, which is connected to the inlet of the compression compartment, preferably wherein each of the compression compartments exhibits the same volume.

A centrifugal microfluidic chip is provided that allows an on-chip chamber to provide humidification control, or more generally, gas composition control, to another chamber of the chip. This allows for microfluidic incubation using low-cost and efficient centrifugal devices such as multi-port pneumatic chip controllers, single or multi-port pneumatic slip rings, and articulated centrifugal blades with a pneumatic slip ring. The device may be used for cell culturing, microorganism testing, or production of chemical species from biological samples with a controlled microenvironment.

A biochip for detection of volatile organic compounds in air includes one or more wells for holding living cells. A capillary connecting each well to a liquid source may be used. The liquid source may be an on-chip reservoir or a system liquid supply. An air flow channel is separated from each well by a membrane. At least a portion of the biochip is transparent to allow optical detection of cell fluorescence. The biochip may be made of multiple flat transparent layers attached together. A system for detecting volatile organic compounds in air has an optical system adapted to detect fluorescence of genetically modified living cells expressing an odorant receptor capable of binding to the volatile organic compound and a calcium sensitive fluorescent reporter that fluoresces in response to binding of the volatile organic compound to the odorant receptor.

Cells in wells of a microplate may be directly stimulated with gases, vapors or volatile organic compounds in a scalable way while remaining compliant with existing standards. The microplate may be used in designing of GPCR's (G protein-coupled receptors), in biotechnology and synthetic biology, drug development, oxygenation studies, food flavor design and others. An assay system for operating with gas stimulation of cells includes an optical sensor positioned to detect light in the wells.

An integrated system for processing and preparing samples for analysis may include a microfluidic device including a plurality of parallel channel networks for partitioning the samples including various fluids, and connected to a plurality of inlet and outlet reservoirs, at least a portion of the fluids comprising reagents, a holder including a closeable lid hingedly coupled thereto, in which in a closed configuration, the lid secures the microfluidic device in the holder, and in an open configuration, the lid is a stand orienting the microfluidic device at a desired angle to facilitate recovery of partitions or droplets from the partitioned samples generated within the microfluidic device, and an instrument configured to receive the holder and apply a pressure differential between the plurality of inlet and outlet reservoirs to drive fluid movement within the channel networks.