A device that provides independent thermal regulation for biological samples in a 96-well microwell plate.

Thermal control of cellular processes allows for remote control through tissue or opaque media, allowing for precise targeting of therapies in the body as well as broad control of metabolic processes in bioreactors. However, current research tools for modulating the temperature of biological samples are slow, expensive, and often limited to small numbers of concurrent samples. There exists a need for a high-throughput method to modulate the temperature of biological samples.

The inventors developed a device capable of housing a 96-well microwell plate and independently adjusting the temperature of the sample in each well. Furthermore, the device is compatible with most assays designed for 96-well plates in addition to traditional cell culture incubators. The inventors have successfully used the device to regulate temperature in mammalian cell cultures.

The device consists of an Arduino microprocessor paired with a custom printed circuit board. The circuit board allocates a pair of waterproofed thermistors to each well of the 96-well plate. One thermistor provides heating to the sample while the other measures the current temperature. A proportional–integral–derivative (PID) control algorithm adjusts the duty ratio of each heating thermistor to maintain the user-defined temperature.

• Independent temperature for individual samples in 96-well plates
• Supports dynamic temperature regulation profiles
• Compatible with existing research tools designed for 96-well plates