Method of emulsion formation and modification
AssigneeBio-Rad Laboratories, Inc.
InventorsKevin D. Ness, Christopher F. Kelly, Donald A. Masquelier
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Abstract
A system, including method and apparatus, for generating droplets suitable for droplet-based assays. The disclosed systems may include either one-piece or multi-piece droplet generation components configured to form sample-containing droplets by merging aqueous, sample-containing fluid with a background emulsion fluid such as oil, to form an emulsion of sample-containing droplets suspended in the background fluid. In some cases, the disclosed systems may include channels or other suitable mechanisms configured to transport the sample-containing droplets to an outlet region, so that subsequent assay steps may be performed.
Claims8
A method of emulsion formation and modification, the method comprising:
- flowing an oil in an oil channel and a first aqueous fluid in an aqueous channel, wherein the oil channel, the aqueous channel, and an emulsion channel intersect at a first intersection;
- forming an emulsion including the first aqueous fluid at the first intersection;
- flowing the emulsion in the emulsion channel to a second intersection;
- and
- modifying the emulsion at the second intersection, wherein modifying comprises generating droplets including a second aqueous fluid, wherein the modified emulsion comprises a first population of droplets including the first aqueous fluid and a second population of droplets including the second aqueous fluid, and wherein the first population and the second population have different compositions;
- wherein the aqueous channel in which the first aqueous fluid flows has a cross-section and includes an air trap configured to prevent the first aqueous fluid from being inadvertently drawn through the aqueous channel by capillary action;
- wherein the air trap includes three sections, each of which is formed with at least one angled channel through which sample-containing fluid passes to flow through the air trap;
- and
- wherein the cross-section of the aqueous channel abruptly increases in one or more dimensions to increase the contact angle of the first aqueous fluid and the aqueous channel wall interface to a value greater than 90 degrees to generate a force that stops an undesired movement of the first aqueous fluid in the aqueous channel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.