Holder for Culture Plates with De-Nesting Feature

Abstract

A holding structure for holding a plurality of culture plates in a stacked arrangement includes a feature for de-nesting the bottom culture plate from the plate above it. The de-nesting feature is preferably a structure which urges a plate to move laterally relative to the plate above it. The de-nesting of the bottom culture plate from the adjacent culture plate facilitates withdrawal of the bottom culture plate from the base via a robotic plate transfer mechanism. The de-nesting feature can be entirely passive, such as ramps formed in the base of the holding structure.

1 . A method of stacking and handling nested culture plates in an automated culture plate handling instrument, comprising the steps of:
 (a) providing in the instrument a structure for holding a stack of culture plates, the structure holding the stack of culture plates in a nested condition;   (b) providing a de-nesting feature in the structure causing the bottom culture plate in the stack to be held in the cassette in an off-set, de-nested condition relative to the adjacent culture plate above it;   (c) automatically removing the bottom culture plate from the structure with a robotic transfer mechanism;   (d) the removing of the bottom culture plate causing the stack of culture plates to descend within the structure; and   (e) wherein the said adjacent culture plate becomes the new bottom culture plate in the stack and wherein the de-nesting feature causes the new bottom culture plate to be held in a de-nested condition relative to its adjacent culture plate above it in the stack.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the steps of repeating steps (c), (d) and (e) until the all of the culture plates have been removed from the structure. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein method further comprises the step of de-nesting the culture plate above the bottom culture plate from its upper adjacent culture plate in the stack. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the de-nesting feature comprises a sloped ramp. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the de-nesting feature of step (b) is passive. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the step of de-nesting the culture plate above the bottom culture plate from its upper adjacent culture plate is performed passively. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the structure holding the stack of plates comprises an elongate tubular member.