Method and apparatus for cryopreparing biological tissue

Claim 1

An apparatus for distillation drying of one or more biological samples comprising: (a) a retaining assembly adapted to retain one or more biological samples; (b) a vacuum assembly removably attached to said retaining assembly, said vacuum assembly including one or more vacuum pumps, at least one of said vacuum pumps being a low hydrocarbon, high vacuum pump; (c) cooling means functionally associated with said retaining assembly, said cooling means being functionally effective to control the temperature of the component particles within said one or more tissue samples; (d) monitoring means functionally attached to said retaining assembly, said monitoring means including one or more sensors to measure the temperature within at least a portion of the retaining assembly; and (e) control means to activate and control said vacuum means and said monitoring means.

Claim 2

An apparatus for distillation drying of one or more biological samples comprising: (a) a retaining assembly adapted to retain one or more biological samples; (b) a vacuum assembly removably attached to said retaining assembly, said vacuum assembly including one or more vacuum pumps, at least one of said vacuum pumps being a low hydrocarbon, high vacuum pump; (c) cooling means functionally associated with said retaining assembly, said cooling means being functionally effective to control the temperature of the component particles within said one or more tissue samples; (d) monitoring means functionally attached to said retaining assembly, said monitoring means including one or more sensors to measure the temperature within at least a portion of the retaining assembly; and (e) control means to activate and control said vacuum means and said monitoring means.

Claim 20

An apparatus for distillation drying of one or more biological samples comprising: (a) a retaining assembly adapted to retain one or more biological samples, said retaining assembly including: (i) a sample chamber; (ii) a sample holder; (iii) a column connecting said retaining assembly to a vacuum assembly; and (iv) a cryoreservoir to enclose said sample chamber and said sample holder; (b) a vacuum assembly removably attached to said retaining assembly, said vacuum assembly including a low hydrocarbon, high vacuum pump and a low vacuum roughing pump; (c) cooling means functionally associated with said retaining assembly, said cooling means being functionally effective to control the temperature of the component particles within said one or more tissue samples. (d) monitoring means functionally attached to said retaining assembly, said monitoring means including one or more low vacuum sensors and one or more high vacuum sensors, said monitoring means further including one or more sensors to measure the temperature within at least a portion of the retaining assembly; and (e) control means to activate and control said vacuum assembly and said monitoring means.

Claim 21

An apparatus for distillation drying of one or more biological samples comprising: (a) a retaining assembly adapted to retain one or more biological samples, said retaining assembly including: (i) a sample chamber; (ii) a sample holder; (iii) a column connecting said retaining assembly to a vacuum assembly; and (iv) a cryoreservoir to enclose said sample chamber and said sample holder; (b) a vacuum assembly removably attached to said retaining assembly, said vacuum assembly including a low hydrocarbon, high vacuum pump and a low vacuum roughing pump; (c) cooling means functionally associated with said retaining assembly, said cooling means being functionally effective to control the temperature of the component particles within said one or more tissue samples. (d) monitoring means functionally attached to said retaining assembly, said monitoring means including one or more low vacuum sensors and one or more high vacuum sensors, said monitoring means further including one or more sensors to measure the temperature within at least a portion of the retaining assembly; and (e) control means to activate and control said vacuum assembly and said monitoring means.

Claim 32

An apparatus for distillation drying of one or more biological samples comprising: (a) a retaining assembly adapted to retain one or more biological samples, said retaining assembly including: (i) a sample chamber; (ii) a sample holder; (iii) a metal column connecting said retaining assembly to a vacuum assembly; and (iv) a cryoreservoir to enclose said sample chamber and said sample holder; (b) a vacuum assembly removably attached to said retaining assembly, said vacuum assembly including a low hydrocarbon high vacuum turbo pump and a low vacuum roughing pump; wherein said vacuum assembly further includes: (i) a backing valve functionally associated with said high vacuum turbo pump, said backing valve being functionally effective to isolate said turbo pump from said roughing pump, said backing valve being operable to maintain effective backing pressure during turbo pump operation; (ii) a roughing valve, said roughing valve being functionally effective to isolate said roughing pump from said retaining assembly, said roughing valve being functionally effective to permit prepumping of said retaining assembly after the sample holder has been loaded into the sample chamber; and (iii) a gate valve, said gate valve being functionally effective to isolate said high vacuum turbo pump from said retaining assembly during evacuation of the retaining assembly by said roughing pump; and (c) liquid nitrogen cooling means functionally associated with said retaining assembly, said cooling means being effective to control the temperature of the component particles within said one or more tissue samples; (d) monitoring means functionally attached to said retaining assembly, said monitoring means including one or more low vacuum sensors and one or more high vacuum sensors, said monitoring means further including one or more sensors to measure the temperature within at least a portion of the retaining assembly; (e) control means to activate and control said vacuum assembly and said monitoring means; (f) a vapor fixation assembly; and (g) a resin input assembly.

Claim 33

An apparatus for distillation drying of one or more biological samples comprising: (a) a retaining assembly adapted to retain one or more biological samples, said retaining assembly including: (i) a sample chamber; (ii) a sample holder; (iii) a metal column connecting said retaining assembly to a vacuum assembly; and (iv) a cryoreservoir to enclose said sample chamber and said sample holder; (b) a vacuum assembly removably attached to said retaining assembly, said vacuum assembly including a low hydrocarbon high vacuum turbo pump and a low vacuum roughing pump; wherein said vacuum assembly further includes: (i) a backing valve functionally associated with said high vacuum turbo pump, said backing valve being functionally effective to isolate said turbo pump from said roughing pump, said backing valve being operable to maintain effective backing pressure during turbo pump operation; (ii) a roughing valve, said roughing valve being functionally effective to isolate said roughing pump from said retaining assembly, said roughing valve being functionally effective to permit prepumping of said retaining assembly after the sample holder has been loaded into the sample chamber; and (iii) a gate valve, said gate valve being functionally effective to isolate said high vacuum turbo pump from said retaining assembly during evacuation of the retaining assembly by said roughing pump; and (c) liquid nitrogen cooling means functionally associated with said retaining assembly, said cooling means being effective to control the temperature of the component particles within said one or more tissue samples; (d) monitoring means functionally attached to said retaining assembly, said monitoring means including one or more low vacuum sensors and one or more high vacuum sensors, said monitoring means further including one or more sensors to measure the temperature within at least a portion of the retaining assembly; (e) control means to activate and control said vacuum assembly and said monitoring means; (f) a vapor fixation assembly; and (g) a resin input assembly.