The present disclosure provides systems and methods for intracellular delivery. The systems and methods may comprise the use of a cell processing apparatus which may comprise a plurality of compression elements such as ridges. The intracellular delivery may be caused by rapid compression of cells, which may result in a reduction of a cell volume. The compression may occur while the cells pass through gaps formed by at least a subset of the ridges. The cell processing apparatus may further comprise one or more recovery spaces which are positioned between adjacent ridges. The cells may recover at least a portion of the reduced cell volume by absorbing media and/or reagents surrounding the cells while flowing through the recovery spaces. The ridges may also divert less compressible cells into a diversion channel, thereby sorting the cells based on various cell properties and/or preventing clogging within the apparatus.

A pipette tip rack system includes a thermoformed clamshell tip container and a dispenser for the clamshell tip container. The tip dispenser includes a base for holding the clamshell container, cover and a lifting mechanism for lifting the lid of the tip container and the cover when a latch on the base is released. The tip dispenser is configured to facilitate one-touch operation so that a laboratory work may hold a pipette in the other hand while using the dispenser, and conveniently open and close the dispenser cover to reduce the risk of contamination. The dispenser can be used without the thermoformed tip container as well.

One aspect of the present invention is to provide the device and methods for performing an assay that uses the multiplexing of sample thicknesses on the same plate. The sample thickness multiplexing can offer many information that is unavailable in using a single sample thickness.

A bucket insert for use in a centrifuge is disclosed. The bucket insert comprises an insert body, the insert body comprising a plurality of elongated receptacles for receiving elongated sample vessels. The bucket insert is configured for orienting the elongated sample vessels in a tilted orientation. In the tilted orientation, at least some of the elongated sample vessels are oriented in a non-parallel fashion.

An expandable array and methods of maintaining a biological sample within an expandable array are provided. The expandable array includes a plurality of receptacles configured to receive a biological sample and a plurality of beams comprising a programmable material. Each beam of the plurality of beams is located between and connects at least two receptacles. The programmable material can be a shape-memory polymer or a magnetoactive material that transitions the plurality of beams from an extended state to a contracted state upon application of a stimulus.

One aspect of the present invention is to provide the device and methods for performing an assay that uses the multiplexing of sample thicknesses on the same plate. The sample thickness multiplexing can offer many information that are unavailable in using a single sample thickness.

A pipette tip rack system includes a thermoformed clamshell tip container and a dispenser for the clamshell tip container. The tip dispenser includes a base for holding the clamshell container, cover and a lifting mechanism for lifting the lid of the tip container and the cover when a latch on the base is released. The tip dispenser is configured to facilitate one-touch operation so that a laboratory work may hold a pipette in the other hand while using the dispenser, and conveniently open and close the dispenser cover to reduce the risk of contamination. The dispenser can be used without the thermoformed tip container as well.

A pipette tip rack system includes a thermoformed clamshell tip container and a dispenser for the clamshell tip container. The tip dispenser includes a base for holding the clamshell container, cover and a lifting mechanism for lifting the lid of the tip container and the cover when a latch on the base is released. The tip dispenser is configured to facilitate one-touch operation so that a laboratory work may hold a pipette in the other hand while using the dispenser, and conveniently open and close the dispenser cover to reduce the risk of contamination. The dispenser can be used without the thermoformed tip container as well.

A microfluidic device including: (a) top plate, including: a top substrate; a first layer of hydrophobic material coupled to a surface of the top substrate; a continuous electrode between the first layer of hydrophobic material and the top substrate; (b) a bottom plate, comprising: a bottom substrate; a plurality of electrodes coupled to the bottom substrate; a second layer of hydrophobic material coupled to the second substrate and atop the plurality of electrodes. The top plate and the bottom plate are placed in a spaced relationship, thereby defining a gap between the first and second layers of hydrophobic material to permit droplet motion within the gap under application of propulsion voltages. At least one of the top substrate, the first layer of hydrophobic material, the second layer of hydrophobic material, the bottom substrate, and the plurality of electrodes have a non-uniform thickness, and the gap has a plurality of heights.

Multi-well collapsible basket arrays and methods for their use with high throughput culture and histology analysis of spheroids and organoids. Such a collapsible basket array includes a collapsible cellular array structure having multiple cells and connectors that interconnect adjacent pairs of the cells to cause the collapsible cellular array structure to collapse from an expanded configuration to a collapsed configuration in which the connectors are partially wrapped around perimeters or circumferences of the cells, whereby the collapsible cellular array structure is expandable to acquire an expanded configuration capable of individually aligning the cells thereof with wells of a well plate. The collapsible basket array further includes inserts individually mountable to the cells of the collapsible cellular array structure, with each insert including a permeable basket with pores sized to retain spheroids or organoids within the basket.