The US Patent and Trademark Office has awarded Genomic Solutions US patent 6,302,159, entitled “Apparatus and method of carrying out flow through chemistry of multiple mixtures.” The patent covers technology developed by Genomic Solutions for its ProPrep and ProGest instruments, which prepare samples of proteins picked from 2D gels for mass spectrometry analysis. Specifically, the patent describes a technique for evacuating reagents from 96-well trays without the use of a syringe. Instead, the patented method relies on valves situated at the bottom of the well, which can open to allow liquid reagents to escape. Because the technique does not require a syringe or other invasive techniques to aspirate the samples, the patented technology significantly reduces the risk that the samples wells will become contaminated, said David Miller, Genomic Solutions’ global product manager for proteomics.