Method and system for thermally controlling a chemical reaction in droplets
AssigneeBio-Rad Laboratories, Inc.
InventorDarren R. Link
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods and systems for thermally controlling a chemical reaction in droplets. In an exemplary method, a first thermal zone and a second thermal zone having different temperatures from one another may be created in a reaction chamber. An emulsion including droplets encapsulated by a carrier fluid may be held in the reaction chamber. The droplets may have a density mismatch with the carrier fluid, and each droplet may include one or more reactants for the chemical reaction. An orientation of the reaction chamber may be changed to move the droplets from the first thermal zone to the second thermal zone, such that a rate of the chemical reaction changes in at least a subset of the droplets.
Claims16
A method of controlling a chemical reaction, the method comprising:
- creating a first thermal zone and a second thermal zone in a reaction chamber, the first and second thermal zones having different temperatures from one another;
- holding an emulsion in the reaction chamber, the emulsion including droplets encapsulated by a carrier fluid and having a density mismatch with the carrier fluid, each of the droplets including one or more reactants for the chemical reaction;
- and
- changing an orientation of the reaction chamber to move the droplets from the first thermal zone to the second thermal zone, such that a rate of the chemical reaction changes in at least a subset of the droplets;
- wherein changing an orientation encourages generation of an amplicon corresponding to a target sequence present in at least a subset of the droplets;
- and
- wherein by design at least one of the droplets does not contain the target sequence.
A method of controlling a chemical reaction, the method comprising:
- creating a first thermal zone and a second thermal zone in a reaction chamber, the first and second thermal zones having different temperatures from one another;
- holding an emulsion in the reaction chamber, the emulsion including droplets encapsulated by a carrier fluid and having a density mismatch with the carrier fluid, each of the droplets including one or more reactants for the chemical reaction;
- and
- changing an orientation of the reaction chamber to move the droplets from the first thermal zone to the second thermal zone, such that a rate of the chemical reaction changes in at least a subset of the droplets;
- wherein the chemical reaction is catalyzed by an enzyme, and wherein the enzyme is present in only a subset of the droplets.
A method of controlling a chemical reaction, the method comprising:
- creating a first thermal zone and a second thermal zone in a reaction chamber, the first and second thermal zones having different temperatures from one another;
- holding an emulsion in the reaction chamber, the emulsion including droplets encapsulated by a carrier fluid and having a density mismatch with the carrier fluid, each of the droplets including one or more reactants for the chemical reaction;
- changing an orientation of the reaction chamber to move the droplets from the first thermal zone to the second thermal zone, such that a rate of the chemical reaction changes in at least a subset of the droplets;
- reorienting the reaction chamber to return the droplets to the first thermal zone;
- and
- changing a temperature of the first thermal zone while the droplets are located in the second thermal zone before reorienting.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.