Method and apparatus for precise transfer and manipulation of fluids by centrifugal and/or capillary forces
AssigneeSiemens Healthcare Diagnostics Inc.
InventorsMichael J. Pugia, Gert Blankenstein, Ralf-Peter Peters, Holger Bartos
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A micro-liter liquid sample, particularly a biological sample, is analyzed in a device employing centrifugal and capillary forces. The sample is moved through one or more sample wells arrayed within a small flat chip via interconnecting capillary passageways. The passageways may be either hydrophobic or hydrophilic and may include hydrophobic or hydrophilic capillary stops.
Claims37
A device for dispensing and analyzing uniform samples of liquid comprising:
- (a) a sample well for receiving a portion of said liquid;
- (b) a capillary passageway communicating with said sample well of (a) for receiving said liquid from said sample well by capillary action, said passageway including a segment defining the volume of said uniform liquid sample, said segment being disposed between two intersecting passageways vented to the atmosphere, said segment communicating with a transfer capillary passageway for transferring said uniform sample from said segment to a first reagent well;
- and
- (c) a capillary stop disposed within said transfer passageway for preventing transfer of said uniform sample to said first reagent well.
A device for analyzing biological fluid samples comprising:
- (a) a sample well for receiving a portion of said sample fluid and at least a second well in fluid communication with said sample well;
- (b) a capillary passageway connecting said sample well and said at least second well, said capillary adapted to prevent said sample fluid from passing from said sample well to said at least second well;
A multi-purpose device for analyzing a biological fluid sample comprising:
- (a) at least one sample well for receiving said sample;
- (b) a capillary passageway communicating with at least one of said sample wells of (a) for receiving said sample from said sample well by capillary action, said passageway including a segment defining a uniform volume of said sample fluid, said segment being disposed between two intersecting passageways vented to the atmosphere, said segment communicating through a transfer capillary passageway to a first reagent well for transferring said uniform sample from said segment to said first reagent well;
- (c) a capillary stop disposed within said transfer passageway for preventing transfer of said uniform sample to said first reagent well;
- (d) optionally at least one second reagent well in fluid communication through a capillary passageway with said first reagent well;
- (e) optionally at least one third reagent well in fluid communication through a capillary passageway with at least one of said second reagent wells.
- (f) optionally at least one additional well for receiving portions of said sample of (a);
- (g) sufficient vent channels for venting to atmosphere the reagent wells of (b), (d), (e) and (f) and wherein said reagent wells of (b), (d) and (e), said vent channels, and said capillary step of (c) are positioned on a flat disc so that capillary passageways may be formed in said disc connecting said wells to each other and to said vent channels as needed for analyzing said biological fluid sample.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.