A thermal block assembly is provided. The assembly can comprise a substrate comprising a first surface configured with a plurality of reaction sites each reaction site configured to contain a biological sample and a sample block comprising a plurality of pedestals configured to thermally modulate the plurality of biological samples wherein each pedestal is thermally coupled to one of the reaction sites. The assembly can further comprise cooling blocks, slots and insulating rings associated with reaction sites each capable of minimizing heat flow between reaction sites. A method for thermally isolating reaction sites is also provided. The method can comprise providing a substrate including a plurality of reaction sites, each reaction site configured to contain a biological sample, providing a sample block comprising pedestals, each pedestal having a dimension substantially equal to a dimension of the reaction site and thermally coupled to the reaction site, thermally isolating the reaction sites with a thermal isolating feature, modulating the temperature of the pedestals through a sequence of temperature and hold times and cooling the reaction sites with cooling blocks.

An EWOD device and a related method of performing a digital biological assay are described that employs two volume measurements for enhanced assay determination. The method includes partitioning a sample reservoir and measuring the volume of each partition; initiating a biological assay wherein the biological assay includes measuring a partition property and a volume of each partition in real time as part of determining a concentration of the product substance in each partition based on the measured partition property and volume; and categorizing the partitions by a number of biological entities contained in each partition from which the number of biological entities may be calculated, which in turn may be used to calculate the total number of biological entities or concentration in the sample reservoir. The method further may include an enhanced partitioning process that minimizes variation in the volume of the partitions.

Disclosed herein are improved methods and systems for sequencing nucleic acid that exploit the temperature-dependence of the emitted intensity of fluorescent dyes. The temperature of the sequencing reaction is adjusted during each sequencing cycle, and the emission, or lack of emission, of light meeting or exceeding a threshold by the fluorescent dyes at different temperatures, or within different temperature ranges, is used to detect the fluorescent labels of the incorporated dNTPs and thereby sequence the nucleic acid. The disclosed methods enable a determination of the dNTP incorporated at any given site with a reasonable number of chemistry steps without the complex optics necessary for prior-art systems.

The present invention provides devices and systems for use at the point of care. The methods devices of the invention are directed toward automatic detection of analytes in a bodily fluid. The components of the device are modular to allow for flexibility and robustness of use with the disclosed methods for a variety of medical applications.

A PCR apparatus comprises a PCR heating block having at least two heater units, wherein the at least two heater units are repeatedly disposed on one side of a substrate in a first direction, and each of the at least two heater units has two or more heaters; and a PCR chip having at least two reaction chambers, wherein the at least two reaction chambers are repeatedly formed in the PCR chip, and when the PCR chip is in contact with the PCR heating block, the at least two reaction chambers are arranged to be contacted with the at least two heater units on the PCR heating block, wherein the PCR chip is repeatedly moved in a back-and-forth direction parallel to the first direction and the at least two reaction chambers of the PCR chip is placed to be in contact with the at least two heater units of the PCR heating block.

Disclosed herein are methods and devices for preparing a sample of nucleic acid molecules from a biological sample. The methods and devices may perform similarly to or better than standard sample preparation methods. The nucleic acid molecules prepared using the methods and devices provided herein may be utilized for downstream applications, including polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

The present disclosure describes systems and devices capable of providing rapid polymerase chain reaction processes. A microfluidic card is insertable into a heating assembly. The heating assembly provides separate temperature zones to the card. The card includes a channel array that traverses repeatedly through the separate temperature zones so that a reaction mixture passing through the channel is subjected to thermal cycling.

An immunoblotting instrument and a control method are provided. The immunoblotting instrument comprises an immunoblotting instrument body, and an immunoblotting instrument control device, an incubation device and a liquid feeding and sucking device that are provided on the immunoblotting instrument body, and further comprises a temperature control device for controlling the incubation environment temperature of the immunoblotting membrane. By setting the temperature control device in the immunoblotting instrument to control the temperature of the reaction environment between the immunoblotting membrane and the reagent, the immunoblotting membrane can contact and react with the reagent under the same and set environmental condition, so that the reliability of the final detection results can be improved; at the same time, each functional module is associated and controlled by the control device, so that the entire immunoblotting process is automatically completed, reducing manual intervention and improving work efficiency.

A detection apparatus configured for PCR testing includes a carrier structure and a temperature detection module. The carrier structure is configured to carry a test tube, and the test tube is configured for containing a reagent and a specimen. The temperature detection module is disposed on the carrier structure and includes a heat transfer medium and a temperature sensor. The heat capacity of the heat transfer medium is approximately equal to a preset value, so as to match heat capacity of the reagent. The temperature sensor is configured to sense a temperature of the heat transfer medium. In addition, a method for detecting a temperature of the detection apparatus is also provided.

The present technology provides for a fluorescent detector that is configured to detect light emitted for a probe characteristic of a polynucleotide. The polynucleotide is undergoing amplification in a microfluidic channel with which the detector is in optical communication. The detector is configured to detect minute quantities of polynucleotide, such as would be contained in a microfluidic volume. The detector can also be multiplexed to permit multiple concurrent measurements on multiple polynucleotides concurrently.