Affymetrix has received US Patent No. 7,062,092, "System, method, and computer software product for gain adjustment in biological microarray scanner." The patent claims systems, methods, and computer program products for adjusting the gain of a scanner. The scanner includes one or more excitation sources, an emission detector having a first gain, and a variable gain element having a second gain, according to the patent. One described method includes receiving a user-selected gain value, adjusting the first gain based on a first portion of the user-selected gain value, and adjusting the second gain based on a second portion of the user-selected gain value. Another described method includes selecting an auto-gain value, adjusting the first gain based on a first portion of the auto-gain value, adjusting the second gain based on a second portion of the auto-gain value, causing the scanner to collect sample pixel intensity values, determining a comparison measure based on comparing the sample pixel intensity values to desired pixel intensity values, and adjusting the auto-gain value based on the comparison measure.
Grace Bio Labs of Bend, Ore., and the President and Fellows of Harvard College of Cambridge, Mass., have received US Patent No. 7,063,979, "Interface between substrates having microarrays and microtiter plates." The patent describes a process for preparing a microtiter-microarray device that includes a bottomless microtiter plate attached to the first side of one or more substrates with microarrays of materials attached. The microtiter plate and the substrates are attached via gaskets. Preferably, the microtiter plate is attached to one face of the gaskets by an irreversible water-tight seal, and the first side of the substrate is attached to the opposite face of the gaskets by a reversible water-tight seal.