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US 11,142,785 B2Granted
Microfluidic system for amplifying and detecting polynucleotides in parallel
AssigneeHandyLab, Inc.
InventorsKalyan Handique, Sundaresh N. Brahmasandra, Karthik Ganesan, Jeff Williams
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Abstract
The present technology provides for an apparatus for detecting polynucleotides in samples, particularly from biological samples. The technology more particularly relates to microfluidic systems that carry out PCR on nucleotides of interest within microfluidic channels, and detect those nucleotides. The apparatus includes a microfluidic cartridge that is configured to accept a plurality of samples, and which can carry out PCR on each sample individually, or a group of, or all of the plurality of samples simultaneously.
Claims26
A method, comprising:
- providing a multi-lane microfluidic cartridge, each lane comprising an amplification region within which amplification of polynucleotides is carried out;
- and
- providing an instrument, the instrument comprising a receiving bay configured to receive the multi-lane microfluidic cartridge, the instrument comprising one or more processors configured to control components of the instrument, the components of the instrument comprising:
- a plurality of separately controllable heat sources mounted in the instrument, a heat source of the plurality of separately controllable heat sources configured to direct heat to an amplification region of a lane of the multi-lane microfluidic cartridge when the multi-lane microfluidic cartridge is received in the receiving bay,
- a detector mounted in the instrument, the detector configured to detect the presence of an amplification product in the amplification region during amplification,
- an automatic pipetting machine mounted in the instrument, the automatic pipetting machine configured to load polynucleotide-containing samples into the multi-lane microfluidic cartridge when the multi-lane microfluidic cartridge is received in the receiving bay, wherein the automatic pipetting machine is configured to add a polynucleotide-containing sample to the multi-lane microfluidic cartridge after a different polynucleotide-containing sample has been amplified in the multi-lane microfluidic cartridge, wherein the instrument is configured to move the multi-lane microfluidic cartridge from a first location in an area inside the instrument to a second location in the area before amplification of polynucleotides is carried out.
3 more elements
A method, comprising:
- providing a multi-lane microfluidic cartridge, each lane comprising an amplification region within which amplification of polynucleotides is carried out;
- and
- providing an instrument, the instrument comprising a receiving bay configured to receive the multi-lane microfluidic cartridge, the instrument further comprising:
- a plurality of separately controllable heat sources located in the instrument before the multi-lane microfluidic cartridge is received in the receiving bay, a heat source of the plurality of separately controllable heat sources configured to direct heat to a lane of the multi-lane microfluidic cartridge when the multi-lane microfluidic cartridge is received in the receiving bay,
- a detector configured to detect the presence of an amplification product in an amplification region of a lane of the multi-lane microfluidic cartridge during amplification, wherein the detector is configured to independently detect a plurality of fluorescent dyes in the amplification region of the multi-lane microfluidic cartridge when the multi-lane microfluidic cartridge is received in the receiving bay, the plurality of fluorescent dyes having different fluorescent emission spectra, wherein each fluorescent dye corresponds to a fluorescent polynucleotide probe or a fragment thereof,
- an automatic pipetting machine configured to load polynucleotide-containing samples into the multi-lane microfluidic cartridge when the multi-lane microfluidic cartridge is received in the receiving bay, wherein after amplification has been carried out on a polynucleotide-containing sample, the amplified polynucleotide-containing sample is configured to remain in the multi-lane microfluidic cartridge while the multi-lane microfluidic cartridge receives another polynucleotide-containing sample in an unused lane of the multi-lane microfluidic cartridge from the automatic pipetting machine.
3 more elements
A method, comprising:
- providing a multi-lane microfluidic cartridge, each lane comprising an amplification region within which amplification of polynucleotides is carried out;
- and
- providing an instrument, the instrument comprising a receiving bay configured to receive the multi-lane microfluidic cartridge, the instrument further comprising:
- a plurality of separately controllable heat sources configured at the receiving bay, a heat source of the plurality of separately controllable heat sources configured to direct heat to an amplification region of a lane of the multi-lane microfluidic cartridge when the multi-lane microfluidic cartridge is received in the receiving bay, wherein the heat source is configured to cyclically heat in a series of heating phases to amplify polynucleotides in the amplification region, each heating phase comprising the heat source cycling between at least two temperatures,
- a detector configured to detect the presence of an amplification product in the amplification region during amplification,
- one or more processors configured to control the plurality of separately controllable heat sources, and
- an automatic pipetting machine configured to load polynucleotide-containing samples into the multi-lane microfluidic cartridge when the multi-lane microfluidic cartridge is received in the receiving bay, wherein the automatic pipetting machine is configured to add a polynucleotide-containing sample to the multi-lane microfluidic cartridge after a different polynucleotide-containing sample has been amplified in the multi-lane microfluidic cartridge, wherein the amplified polynucleotide-containing sample is configured to remain in the multi-lane microfluidic cartridge while the multi-lane microfluidic cartridge receives the added polynucleotide-containing sample in an unused lane of the multi-lane microfluidic cartridge from the automatic pipetting machine.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.