A significant reduction in the burden on an evacuation operator and a significant reduction in evacuation cost are achieved when the concentration of impurities included in silicon are measured in liquid helium by a photoluminescence method. A glass which serves as a material for forming an inner cylinder Dewar flask (2) has an SiO.sub.2 content of 65% by weight to 75% by weight, and has an average thermal expansion rate of 25×10.sup.−7/° C. to 55×10.sup.−7/° C. when the temperature of the glass is 20° C. to 300° C.

A thermal array has a first heating element, a second, transparent heating element, a first insulator, a second insulator, and a cooling block. The transparent heating element is a layer of glass with one or more heating wires cast into, or coupled onto, the glass, or a thermo-resistive coating sputtered onto one side of the glass. The transparent heating element may further have a temperature sensor to monitor the temperature and thereby ensure that the layer of glass is held at a predetermined temperature. The thermal array includes bandpass light filters to be able to detect the exact fluorescence being produced.

Devices and methods for bio-specimen refrigeration are provided. In an embodiment, the bio-specimen refrigeration devices of the present disclosure include a housing having a lid and a base portion, wherein the lid is selectively moveable between an open position and a closed position; a coolant cartridge chamber disposed in the housing and configured to fluidically couple with a coolant cartridge disposed in the coolant cartridge chamber; and a cooling chamber disposed in the housing and configured to receive a fluid coolant from the coolant cartridge, wherein in the closed position, the lid seals the cooling chamber.

High-throughput digital microfluidic (DMF) systems and methods (including devices, systems, cartridges, DMF apparatuses, etc.), are described herein. The systems, apparatuses and methods integrate liquid handling with the DMF apparatuses, providing flexible and efficient sample reactions and sample preparation. These systems, apparatuses and methods may be used with a variety of cartridge configurations and sizes.

An apparatus for the thermal treatment of samples within sample containers comprises: a sample block a receiving region for the sample containers; a first temperature-control device thermally coupled to the sample block designed to set a temperature of the sample block; a cover plate arranged in the receiving region of the sample block; a second temperature-control device thermally coupled to the cover plate and designed to set a temperature of the cover plate; and a control unit connected to the first and the second temperature-control devices and designed to control the first and the second temperature-control device as to control the temperature of the sample block and the temperature of the cover plate such that the temperatures are coordinated with one another. A method for the thermal treatment of samples contained in sample containers is also disclosed.

An analytic device comprising a device housing, a dock to receive a camera enabled mobile electronic device, such as a smartphone and other smart devices, and a processing device to communicate with the mobile electronic device and to control a condition of the assay tube, such as temperature. In another example, the analytic device comprises a device housing and a circuit board. A processing device, a heating block defining a recess to support assay tube, and a resistive heater are surface mounted to the circuit board. A light source and a fan are also provided. A dock may be provided to support a mobile electronic device. The mobile electronic device communicates with the processing device to cause the application of reaction conditions to the assay tube, to perform a PCR procedure, for example. Methods are also disclosed.

Described herein are devices and methods for high throughput purification of particles. In some cases, methods and devices described herein can be used to remove erythrocytes and purify leukocytes and raise the quality of umbilical cord blood and other transplant grafts, thereby significantly improving patient outcomes.

To provide a reagent cooler reduced in size as compared with that in the related art by reducing a thickness of a heat insulation material of the reagent cooler, and an automated analyzer including the reagent cooler. In the reagent cooler of the automated analyzer, a vacuum heat insulation material is disposed in a periphery (on a side surface, or/and upper and lower portions) of a cooling jacket of the reagent cooler. Then, an end portion of the vacuum heat insulation material is disposed at a position shifted from upper and lower end portions and a side surface end portion of the cooling jacket and a distance between the end portion of the vacuum heat insulation material and the cooling jacket is taken as much as possible.

The present disclosure provides cryogenic storage systems and methods of using the cryogenic storage systems. A cryogenic storage system of the present disclosure may comprise a cryogenic tank with an inner door and an outer door, and a robot apparatus located adjacent to the cryogenic tank. The cryogenic tank may store multiple racks such that at most a single rack is removable through the inner door or the outer door. The cryogenic tank may store the multiple racks in multiple groups of racks comprising a first group of racks located at a first radial distance and a second group of racks located at a second radial distance that is greater than the first radial distance. The robot apparatus may selectively open and close the inner or outer doors, and insert or withdraw the single rack into or out of the cryogenic tank through the inner door or the outer door.

A microfluidic method and system for the recovery of particles; while a sample is fed along a plurality of channels, some particles of a given type are trapped at the segments of the channels; keeping a fluid flow flowing along the channels further particles of different type are moved away and unloaded through an outlet; at this point, a movement device, for example provided with a dielectrophoresis system, directly exerts a force on each particle of given type and selectively conveys it to a collection area.