A holding structure includes receptacles formed by peripherally formed side walls, an annular gap being formed between a side wall of a container or device and one of the peripherally formed side walls when containers or devices are received therein, the receptacles being compressed in a first direction and expanded in a second direction transversely thereto, with the result that the gap is widened to form a widened clearance for handling containers or devices which are received in the receptacles, the holding structure further including an upper side, the peripherally formed side walls including an upper edge which forms a closed, smooth curve having at least one local maximum and at least one local minimum in a direction perpendicular to the upper side of the holding structure, the at least one local minimum being situated in a region of the widened clearance that is respectively assigned.

The present invention is related to the field of bio/chemical sampling, sensing, assays and applications. Particularly, the present invention is related to how to make the sampling/sensing/assay become simple to use, fast to results, highly sensitive, easy to use, using tiny sample volume (e.g. 0.5 uL or less), operated by a person without any professionals, reading by mobile-phone, or low cost, or a combination of them.

Provided herein is a method and device for partitioning a fluidic sample. The device contains a plate containing microwells. The method comprises depositing a sample on one or both of the plates when the plates are in an open configuration, wherein the deposition is in the form of a single or multiple droplet of the sample, wherein at least one of the droplets has a volume that occupies more than two microwells and closing the plates to the closed configuration to partition the sample in the microwells.

Pipette assembly comprising a pipette device, a pipette tip, and an expanding mandrel collet coupling device coupling the tip to the pipette device, the coupling device comprising: circumferentially spaced apart segments, an annular base disposed below the segments and comprising a distal portion, an elastomeric element circumscribing the distal portion, and upwardly extending circumferentially spaced apart arms attached at first ends to the annular base and having upper free ends each supporting a different one of the segments configured to expand between a first and a second greater circumference for engaging a first interior working surface of the tip in concurrence with the elastomeric element sealing against a second interior working surface below the first surface and in concurrence with an abutment between a disk exteriorly disposed about a medial portion of the arms and a stepped interior shoulder of the tip disposed between the first and second working surfaces.

Small batch packaging for vial seals and vial stoppers is provided. The packaging includes a vial tray having a plurality of individual spaced-apart vial receptacles for receiving respective vials. The packaging also includes a vial seal tray having a plurality of individual spaced-apart seal receptacles for receiving respective vial seals. The packaging further includes a stopper tray having a plurality of individual spaced-apart stopper receptacles for receiving respective vial seals. A seal channel may extend through the plurality of individually spaced-apart seal receptacles to form a clearance for facilitating grasping of each vial seal. Similarly, a stopper channel may extend through the plurality of individually spaced-apart stopper receptacles to form a clearance for facilitating grasping of each vial stopper.

Pipette tip couplers, pipette tips, coupler and tip combinations, and methods for coupling and decoupling a pipette tip to or from an expanding mandrel pipette tip coupler mounted on a pipette device. The pipette tip couplers include circumferentially spaced apart segments for engaging a first interior working surface of a tip, an annular base disposed below the segments, a distal elastomeric element disposed around a distal stem portion for sealing against a second interior working surface of a tip, upwardly extending circumferentially spaced apart arms each supporting a different segment, and a segmented stop disk exteriorly disposed about a portion of the arms for abutting a stop shoulder in a tip. The pipette tips include a groove in a first cylindrical section, a second cylindrical section, a pipette tip stop shoulder surface, a third cylindrical section, and a sealing seat surface.

Pipette tip couplers, pipette tips, coupler and tip combinations, and methods for coupling and decoupling a pipette tip to or from, respectively, a pipette tip coupler mounted on a pipette device. The pipette tip couplers include an elastomeric element, a discrete segment assembly, and a coupler stop shoulder surface. The pipette tips include a groove in a first cylindrical section, a second cylindrical section, a tip stop shoulder surface at the interface of the first and second cylindrical sections, a third cylindrical section, a sealing seat surface at the interface of the second and third cylindrical sections, and a fourth section adjacent to the third cylindrical section. When the pipette tip is mounted on the pipette tip coupler, the discrete segment assembly abuts the tip groove, the coupler stop shoulder surface abuts the tip stop shoulder surface, and the elastomeric element abuts the sealing seat surface.

Pipette tip coupler and a disposable pipette tip for a pipette device comprises a stepped coupler shoulder complementary to an axially stepped pipette tip shoulder; a first elastomeric element carried by the coupler at a location superior to the coupler shoulder; and a second elastomeric element carried by the coupler at a location inferior to the coupler shoulder wherein the first elastomeric element has a compressed radially expanded state that provides a sealing abutment with a first working surface formed in the interior surface of the pipette tip while compressing the second elastomeric element into sealing abutment with a second working surface formed in the interior surface of the pipette tip and while abutting the proximally facing axial stop surface of the pipette tip with the distally facing axial stop surface of the pipette coupler to define an axial coupling position of the pipette tip on the pipette device.

A material for manipulating liquid volumes includes a porous substrate having first and second surfaces; and a liquid-manipulating pattern disposed on the first surface, the pattern having a first reservoir connected to a target point via a first wedge-shaped transport element to enable liquid transport from the target point to the first reservoir regardless of gravity, wherein the first surface is one of hydrophobic or superhydrophobic, and wherein the first wedge-shaped transport element is one of superhydrophilic when the first surface is hydrophobic, superhydrophilic when the first surface is superhydrophobic, and hydrophilic when the first surface is superhydrophobic. The pattern can include a second reservoir connected to the target point via a second wedge-shaped transport element to enable liquid transport from the target point to the second reservoir regardless of gravity.

A supporting structure for concurrently supporting a plurality of containers for substances for pharmaceutical, medical or cosmetic applications, comprises a plurality of receptacles. The receptacles are arranged in a regular arrangement, are formed by circumferential side-walls, and an upper side of the supporting structure is formed as a plate-shaped carrier. The receptacles are polygonal in shape when viewed in a plan view. A side-wall is formed as a common partition wall between respective two directly adjacent receptacles of the plurality of receptacles. The receptacles can be directly adjacent to each other, which enables optimum packing density, especially with a hexagonal basic shape of the receptacles. Due to the shared partition wall, filigree, double-walled structures can be effectively avoided, which considerably simplifies production by injection molding from a plastic material. Thereby, also a very high inherent stiffness of the supporting structure can be achieved.