Bead Arrayer

We have optimized the use of a bead arrayer that immobilizes 384 beads in an equal number of depressions. The arrayer is designed for connection to both a standard vacuum line and a standard nitrogen line. Beads are trapped by application of vacuum to the apparatus, so that excess beads can be brushed away easily and recovered, leaving exactly 384 beads on the arrayer in a regular 24 X 16 matrix. To deposit individual beads into the wells of a microtiter plate, the arrayer is inverted onto the plate, such that one bead is suspended over each well of the plate, and the vacuum relieved by pressurization with nitrogen. Beads are thus pushed out of the depressions and down into the wells of the microtiter plate.