Claims
- 1. An automatic electroporation system, comprising:
a cuvette holding assembly configured to hold a plurality of electroporation cuvettes, wherein each cuvette includes a first and second electrode; a shocking chamber configured to hold the cuvette holding assembly, the chamber having a commutator assembly configured to provide an electrical contact to the first electrode of each of said plurality of cuvettes in turn; and a control system communicably coupled to the shocking chamber, wherein the control system controls the commutator to automatically contact the first electrode of each cuvette in an order and to provide a potential across the cuvette electrodes when contact is made.
- 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the cuvette holding assembly includes a plurality of cuvette holding spaces configured in a carousel arrangement such that inserted cuvettes are positioned in a circular arrangement.
- 3. The system of claim 2, wherein the cuvette holding assembly is held fixed in place, and wherein the commutator assembly includes a contact element extending from a housing central to the cuvette holding assembly that is controlled to rotate so as to make contact with the inserted cuvettes individually.
- 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the cuvette holding assembly is held fixed in place, and wherein the commutator assembly includes a contact element that is controlled to move from cuvette to cuvette.
- 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the control system executes an optimization routine that controls the potential applied to each cuvette responsive to user-input parameters.
- 6. The system of claim 5, wherein the optimization routine controls the commutator assembly to apply a different potential to each inserted cuvette.
- 7. The system of claim 5, wherein the user input parameters include one or more of a voltage range, number of pulses to be applied to each cuvette, pulsewidth, waveform, capacitance, and number of data points to be recorded for each pulse.
- 8. The system of claim 1, wherein the order is a sequential order.
- 9. A portable data transfer device for use with an electroporation system, comprising:
an optical data port configured to send and receive optical data signals to and from an electroporation instrument configured with an optical data port; a memory for storing data; and a user input module for receiving user input commands; wherein when a user positions the device proximal the electroporation device, the device transmits stored data to the electroporation instrument responsive to a download command received from the user, and receives and stores data from the electroporation instrument responsive to an upload command received from the user.
- 10. The device of claim 9, wherein the user input module includes a download button and an upload button.
- 11. The device of claim 9, wherein the user input module consists of a download key, an upload key and a power key.
- 12. An electroporation system, comprising:
an electroporation unit configured with a data port for sending and receiving data and commands, the electroporation unit including a commutator assembly configured to provide, in turn, an electrical contact to a first electrode of each of a plurality of cuvettes in the unit; a portable data transfer device configured with a data port for sending and receiving data and commands; and a computer system configured with one or more data ports for sending and receiving data and commands, said computer system executing an optimization module that determines experimental parameters for electroporation experiments in the electroporation unit responsive to user input parameters; wherein the computer system automatically determines a first set of experimental parameters in response to a first set of user input parameters, wherein the user downloads the first set of experimental parameters to the portable data transfer unit using one of said one or more data ports of the computer system, and wherein the user transfers the first set of experimental parameters to the electroporation unit using the portable data transfer device, whereby the electroporation unit performs a series of electroporation experiments on the cuvettes responsive to the received experimental parameters.
- 13. The system of claim 12, wherein the data port of the data transfer device is an optical data port.
- 14. The system of claim 12, wherein results of the performed electroporation experiments are transmitted to the portable data transfer device, and wherein the user downloads the results to the computer system using the data transfer device.
- 15. A computer readable medium including code for optimizing electroporation experiments, the code including instructions for controlling a processing module to:
prompt a user to input desired values for one or more parameters; responsive to the user input values, automatically determining experimental parameters for an electroporation experiment.
- 16. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the code further includes instructions to:
control an electroporation instrument to perform a series of one or more electroporation experiments according to the determined experimental parameters.
- 17. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the electroporation instrument includes a plurality of cuvettes, and wherein the instructions to control include instructions to:
automatically apply a series of electroporation pulses of differing values to the cuvettes in an order.
- 18. A cuvette holding apparatus for holding a plurality of electroporation cuvettes, comprising:
a carousel shaped body; and a plurality of cuvette receiving elements located in a circular arrangement on the body.
- 19. The apparatus of claim 18, further including an electrical contact element proximal each cuvette receiving element, wherein when an electroporation cuvette is inserted in a cuvette receiving element, the electrical contact element contacts an electrode on the cuvette.
- 20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the electrical contact elements of adjacent cuvette holding elements are electrically coupled together.
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/337,095, titled “AUTOMATIC ELECTROPORATION OPTIMIZATION SYSTEM”, filed Dec. 6, 2001, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60337095 |
Dec 2001 |
US |