PATENT ABSTRACTS

containing vessels is supported in a reaction chamber through which a heat transfer medium in heat-exchange relationship with the vessels. The temperature of the air is controlled as a func- tion of time to provide a preselectable sequence defining a temperature profile. The profile is cyclically repetitively reproduced to effect am- plification of the desired sequence of DNA or RNA.

5187085

N U C L E I C A C I D S E Q U E N C E A N A L Y S I S W I T H N U C L E O S I D E - 5 ' -O- (1 T H I O T R I P H O S P H A T E S )

Linda G Lee assigned to Applied Biosystcms Inc

A chain-termination method of nucleic acid sequence determination is provided wherein nucleoside triphosphate precursors are replaced with their 1-thiotriphosphate analogs in the polymerization step. This substitution results in more uniform bands of electrophoretically separated DNA fragments which, in turn, results in more accurate base determination.

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5187096

C E L L S U B S T R A T E E L E C T R I C A L I M P E D A N C E S E N S O R W I T H

M U L T I P L E E L E C T R O D E A R R A Y

Iva Giaever, Charles R Keese assigned to Rens- selaer Polytechnic Institute

An apparatus and method for monitoring cell- substrate impedance comprises upper and lower substrates each containing strips of metal foil which cross to form well areas. Holes in the up- per substrate expose an insulation layer between the upper and lower substrates. Smaller holes in the insulation layer expose the conductive material of the lower substrate. Cylindrical well walls are positioned around each of the holes in the upper substrate and define a cell medium containing well which is exposed to an annular area of conductive foil on the upper substrate, and a small area of conducive foil on the lower substrate. The areas of foil form large and small electrodes which are positioned in an array of wells which can be used to monitor the im- pedance of various cell cultures under various conditions. A switching device applies currents to the well electrodes and a monitoring device measures the impedance between the electrodes in each well. In this way, cell spreading and motility can be measured.

5187095

A P P A R A T U S F O R C U L T U R I N G A N I M A L C E L L S

Rudolf F Bliem, Robert V Oakley, Va Taiariol assigned to Baxter International Inc

An apparatus for the in vitro culture of animal cells to recover secreted proteins of interest therefrom, affording the capability of being readily and predictably scaled up or down to desired protein production rates, comprised of a housed arrangement of culture subunits con- taming a packed bed of carrier particles, each subunit being fed in parallel from a common cul- ture medium source, and the spent culture fluid from each subunit being directed to a common spent fluid conduit within the housed arrange- ment. Scale-up or scale-down is effected by addi- tion or subtraction of cuiture subunits and/or by increase or decrease in carrier particle volume within a snbunit while maintaining substantially constant packed bed height.

5187097

C O M P O S T I N G S Y S T E M A N D C O M P O S T I N G M E T H O D

Heinric Weber, Falk Lehrmann, Hermann Hofer, Werner Vogel, Peter Mueller, Oberuzwil, Switzerland assigned to Buehler AG

The disclosure is directed to a large composting system as well as to a new composting method for the automatic production of compost. A mobile layer rearranging unit includes a con- veyor system which is changeable with respect to length can be remote-controlled so that the in- flux of rotting matter is optimized according to throughput and rotting time and the rot loss is compensated for by repeatedly restoring the complete rot height. The required space require- ment is less than before. Any mechanical inter- vention has a loosening effect, particularly in that the working device comprises upwardly working digging and conveyor wheels. All im- portant parameters for the compost ripening can