JPH0972843A - Well plate - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a well plate by which light from a sample can be measured with good condensing efficiency, at low costs and with good efficiency by a configuration in which the light from the sample is transmitted through the bottim face of the well plate so as to be condensed. SOLUTION: A plurality of convex lenses 12 are installed at the lower part of a glass plate 11 in positions corresponding to respective wells W. Reagents 20 are injected, by a dispenser, into the respective wells W on the well plate 10, and samples S are immersed in the reagents 20 so as to be housed. The samples S inside the wells W are reacted with the reagents 20 so as to emit beams of light, and the beams of light are condensed by the lenses 12 installed at the lower part of the plate 10. Since the lenses 12 are brought close to the samples S, their condensing efficiency from the samples S is very high. A photodetector 13 is arranged in condensing positions of the respective lenses 12. In the photodetector 13, light receiving elements 14 such as photodiodes or the like are arranged in the condensing positions of the lenses 12. When detection signals from the respective elements 14 are received, quantities of light emitted from the samples S can be measured with good efficiency.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a well plate used in an apparatus for measuring light from a sample.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the light emitted from a large number of samples has been measured using a well plate.
FIG. 3A is a top view of a well plate used in such an optical measurement device, and FIG. 3B is a sectional view taken along the line AA ′ in FIG. 3A. As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, a plurality of (35) recesses (hereinafter, these recesses are referred to as “wells”) W for accommodating a sample are arranged in the well plate P. ing. In order to accurately measure only the light emitted from the sample, the main body of the well plate P is made of a material whose color is black and which reflects the light from the sample as little as possible (plastic or the like). A sample is put in each well W of the well plate P, and a predetermined reagent is further injected. At this time, the sample reacts with the reagent and emits light. This light is measured by a light measuring device.
The light measuring device will be described below.

As the light measuring device, an individual measuring device for individually measuring the light from the sample in each well,
It can be divided into a simultaneous measurement device that simultaneously measures light from a sample. In the former light measuring device, an injector for injecting a reagent into one well and a photodetector for measuring the light emitted from a sample in the well in which the reagent is injected are provided above the well plate. . Since each well is arranged at the dispensing position by the dispenser, the stage on which the well plate is mounted is scanned in the XY directions (horizontal direction).

The schematic construction of the latter optical measuring device is shown in FIG. A sample is stored in each well of the well plate P. The dispenser 1 is filled with a predetermined reagent, and the reagent can be simultaneously injected into the wells from the injection parts 1a corresponding to the wells of the well plate P. The dispenser 1 is movable between the upper part of the well plate (the position indicated by the broken line in FIG. 4) and the position deviated from the optical path of the measuring device (the position indicated by the solid line in FIG. 4).

First, the dispenser 1 is arranged on the upper part of the well plate, and a predetermined reagent is simultaneously injected into each well of the well plate from the injection part 1a. When the injection of the reagent is completed, the dispenser 1 moves to a position out of the optical path of the measuring device. The light emitted from each sample enters the detection device 3 via the objective lens 2. The detection device 3 has, for example, a high-sensitivity image pickup device, which picks up an image of each sample and simultaneously measures light from each sample by image processing. The measurement result is displayed on the display device 4.

Quantitative analysis of the sample can be performed by measuring the light emitted from the sample with the above-described light measuring device.

[0007]

When measuring light from a sample using a conventional well plate, in the above-mentioned simultaneous measurement apparatus, an objective lens having a diameter corresponding to the size of the well plate is used as an optical system of the apparatus. Must be used,
There is a problem that the entire device becomes expensive. In addition, since a space for disposing the dispenser is required in both the individual measurement device and the simultaneous measurement device, the objective lens that collects the light from the sample must be arranged at a distant position above the well plate. Therefore, there arises a problem that the efficiency of collecting light from the sample deteriorates.

In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a well plate which is inexpensive and can measure the light of a sample with good light-collecting efficiency.

[0009]

In order to solve the above conventional problems, in the present invention according to claim 1, a well plate (10) in which a plurality of recesses (W) for accommodating a sample are arranged. 2), it has a condensing means (12) provided at the bottom of the recess (W) and condensing the light emitted from the sample (S) through the bottom surface of the well plate.

The present invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the light condensing means is a Fresnel lens (15) provided on the bottom surface of the well plate. In the present invention, the light from the sample is transmitted through the bottom surface of the well plate and collected by the light collecting means located close to the sample, so that the light from the sample can be measured efficiently and inexpensively. it can. Further, in the present invention according to claim 2, since the condensing position of the light from a plurality of samples can be gathered in the central part by using the Fresnel lens as the condensing means, the light receiving device for receiving the light from the samples can be received. The surface area can be reduced.

[0011]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a first embodiment of a well plate of the present invention. The well plate of the present invention has 35 wells like the conventional well plate described above. Since the top view of this embodiment is the same as that of FIG. 3A, the illustration thereof is omitted here.

In the well plate 10, the side walls (parts indicated by hatching in FIG. 1) for partitioning each well are made of plastic as in the conventional well plate. The bottom 11 of the well plate 10 is formed of a glass plate. The bottom 11 may be a transparent plastic plate other than the glass plate. Further, under the glass plate 11, a plurality of condenser lenses (convex lenses) 12 are provided at positions corresponding to each well (bottom of the well). A reagent is injected into each well W of the well plate 10 by a dispenser (not shown), and the sample S is stored in a state of being immersed in the reagent 20. The sample S in each well emits light in response to the reagent 20, and the light emitted from the sample is condensed by the convex lens 12 provided at the bottom of the well plate 10. Since the convex lens 12 is close to the sample S, the efficiency of collecting light from the sample is very high. As shown in FIG. 1, a photodetector 13 is arranged at the focusing position of each objective lens 12. The photodetector 13 has, for example, light-receiving elements (for example, photodiodes) 14 arranged at positions (35 positions) corresponding to the focusing position of the objective lens. Each light receiving element 1
By receiving the detection signal from 4, it is possible to accurately measure the light amount of the light emitted from the sample. In addition to this, the light receiving surface of the photodetector 13 may be formed by a highly sensitive two-dimensional sensor. Also, the glass plate 11
Alternatively, the convex lens 12 may also serve as the bottom surface of the well W. Further, the glass plate 11 and the convex lens 12 shown in FIG. 1 may be integrally formed of transparent plastic. As a result, the manufacturing process of the well plate is simplified, and the cost can be kept low.

The well plate as described above eliminates the need for a large-diameter objective lens, which was required in the conventional measuring apparatus, and allows the light of the sample to be measured with a low cost focusing optical system with high focusing efficiency. Further, although the well plate of the above-mentioned embodiment is used in the simultaneous measurement device described in the related art, it may be used in the above-mentioned individual measurement device. In this case, the photodetector 13 is provided with one light receiving element, and the dispenser is provided on the opposite side of the well plate of the light receiving element. The stage on which the well plate is placed arranges each well at the dispensing position by the dispenser, so XY
Direction (horizontal direction).

Next, a second embodiment of the well plate of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The present embodiment is an example in which a Fresnel lens 15 is used instead of the convex lens of the above-described first embodiment, and the other configurations are almost the same as those of the first embodiment. The light of the sample S stored in the wells at the peripheral portion of the well plate 10 is tilted toward the center by the Fresnel lens 15 and condensed as shown in FIG. Therefore, as compared with the first embodiment, the detection device 1
The area of the light receiving surface of 6 can be reduced. In the present embodiment, the light receiving surface of the detection device 16 is formed by a two-dimensional sensor. Also according to this embodiment, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained.

The well plate of the present embodiment can also be used for both the simultaneous measuring device and the individual measuring device described above. The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. In addition, the measuring device using the well plate of the present invention has a hollow central portion of the stage on which the well plate is placed or a member that transmits light, and is used as a light collecting means (convex lens 12 or Fresnel lens 15). A configuration in which a photodetection device (the photodetector 13 shown in FIG. 1, the two-dimensional sensor 16 shown in FIG. 2, etc.) is arranged at a predetermined position below the stage so that the light receiving surface is arranged at the condensing position. Has become.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention, the large-aperture objective lens required for the conventional measuring apparatus becomes unnecessary,
It is possible to measure the light of the sample with an efficient light collection efficiency using an inexpensive light collection optical system. Further, according to the present invention as set forth in claim 2, since the light collecting positions of the light from the plurality of samples can be gathered in the central portion, the area of the light receiving surface for receiving the collected light can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a first embodiment of a well plate of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of a well plate of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a conventional well plate, and FIG.
FIG. 3A is a top view and FIG. 3B is a cross-sectional view.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an apparatus for measuring light emitted from a sample using a conventional well plate.

[Explanation of symbols]

 P, 10 ... Well plate 11 ... Glass plate 12 ... Convex lens 15 ... Fresnel lens S ... Sample 20 ... Reagent

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A well plate in which a plurality of recesses for accommodating a sample are arrayed, which is provided at the bottom of the recess and collects the light emitted from the sample through the bottom surface of the well plate. A well plate comprising a light means. 2. The well plate according to claim 1, wherein the condensing means is a Fresnel lens provided on the bottom surface of the well plate.