System and method for the automated extraction of nucleic acids

摘要

The present invention pertains to a system (1) and method for the automated extraction of nucleic acids from nucleic acids containing samples. It comprises at least one set of three plates (18, 19, 21), each of which having plural cavities, including a process plate (18) for processing said nucleic acids, a reagent plate (19) for providing reagents for mixing with said samples and an output plate (21) for outputting said extracted nucleic acids, wherein said samples are contained in cavities of said process plate (18), in which system: said reagents are provided in cavities of said reagent plate (19) using a reagent pipetting device (29) comprising a plurality of reagent pipettes (30) provided with re-usable pipette tips (31) repeatedly used for providing said reagents; said reagents are transferred to said samples accommodated in the process plate (18) using a sample pipetting device (32) comprising a plurality of sample pipettes (33) provided with disposable pipette tips (34) for pipetting of said reagents to obtain sample-reagent mixtures, said sample-reagent mixtures accommodated in the process plate (18) are incubated by means of an incubating device (24, 25) to release the nucleic acids; said released nucleic acids accommodated in the process plate (18) are separated by means of a separating device and released to obtain extracted nucleic acids containing fluids; said extracted nucleic acids containing fluids are transferred to the cavities of said output plate (19) by means of disposable pipette tips (34); wherein each of said samples is assigned one-to-one to a cavity of said reagent plate (19), at least one of said disposable pipette tips (34) and a cavity of said output plate (19).