Editing Microplate (section)

==History==
[[File:BioTek ELx405 Washer022310.jpg|thumb|300px|A commercial microplate washer]]

The earliest microplate was created in 1951 by a Hungarian, Dr. [[Gyula Takátsy]], who machined six rows of 12 "wells" in [[Acrylic glass|Lucite]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite journal |author= Farkas E. |title= Microtitrations in serology and virology – a citation-classic commentary on the use of spiral loops in serological and virological micro-methods by Takatsy, G. |journal= Current Contents/Life Sciences |issue=30 |page=10 |date=27 July 1992 |url=http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/classics1992/A1992JC14700001.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author= Takatsy G |title= Uj modszer sorozatos higitasok gyors es pontos elvegzesere |trans-title=A rapid and accurate method for serial dilutions |journal= Kiserl. Orvostud. |volume=5|pages=393–7|year= 1950}}</ref>  Subsequently, Dr. John Louis Sever modified the Hungarian design into a 96-well plate, which he published in 1962.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sever |first1=John Louis |title=Application of a Microtechnique to Viral Serological Investigations |journal=The Journal of Immunology |date=1 March 1962 |volume=88 |issue=3 |pages=320–329 |doi=10.4049/jimmunol.88.3.320}}</ref> However, common usage of the microplate began in the late 1980s when John Liner introduced a molded version. By 1990 there were more than 15 companies producing a wide range of microplates with different features. It was estimated that 125 million microplates were used in 2000 alone.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Manns|first=Roy|title=Microplate History|year=1999|edition=2}}</ref> The word "Microtiter" is a registered trademark of Thermo Electron OY ({{US trademark|754,087}}.)

Other trade names for microplates include Viewplate and Unifilter (introduced in the early 1990s by Polyfiltronics and sold by Packard Instrument, which is now part of PerkinElmer).

In 1996, the [[Society for Biomolecular Screening]] (SBS), later known as Society for Biomolecular Sciences, began an initiative to create a standard definition of a microplate. A series of standards was proposed in 2003 and published by the [[American National Standards Institute]] (ANSI) on behalf of the SBS. The standards govern various characteristics of a microplate including well positioning (but not shape, depth, and diameter) as well as plate properties, which allows [[interoperability]] between microplates, instrumentation and equipment from different suppliers, and is particularly important in [[laboratory automation]]. In 2010, the [[Society for Biomolecular Sciences]] merged with the [[Association for Laboratory Automation]] (ALA) to form a new organisation, the [[Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening]] (SLAS). Henceforth, the microplate standards are known as ANSI SLAS standards.