Microfabricated Crossflow Devices and Methods
AssigneeCalifornia Institute of Technology
InventorsStephen R. Quake, Todd Thorsen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
This invention provides microfabricated devices and methods for detecting, analyzing and sorting biological materials and particles. Droplets containing the particles are provided in an extrusion fluid, passed through a detection region, and then directed into a branch channel according to predetermined characteristics. For example, cells or viral particles contained in droplets of aqueous solvent are flowed past a detector in the nonpolar extrusion fluid decane, and routed into a selected branch channel for subsequent analysis or use.
Claims16
-37. (canceled)
A method for sorting particles, said method comprising:
- (a) furnishing an extrusion fluid to a main channel of a microfabricated substrate;
- (b) providing droplets of a sample fluid containing the particles to the main channel, wherein the sample fluid is incompatible with the extrusion fluid;
- (c) interrogating the particle(s) in each droplet for a predetermined while passing through a detection region associated with the main channel;
- and
- (d) directing the flow of each droplet into a selected branch channel according to the results of the interrogation.
-58. (canceled)
A method for sorting particles using a microfluidic device, said device comprising, on a substrate:
- (a) a main channel comprising a nonpolar extrusion fluid and, in the nonpolar extrusion fluid, a plurality of droplets of an aqueous sample fluid comprising said particles;
- (b) at least two branch channels meeting at a junction with the main channel, wherein the nonpolar extrusion fluid is flowing toward the junction;
- (c) a detection region within or coincident with at least a portion of the main channel and associated with a detector;
- (d) a flow control system adapted to direct droplets through the detection region and to the junction;
- (e) a flow control system responding to the detector and adapted to direct individual droplets into a branch channel,
- said method comprising:
- (i) directing said nonpolar extrusion fluid and plurality of droplets of an aqueous sample fluid through the detection region;
- (ii) interrogating the particle in each droplet for a predetermined characteristic while it passes through the detection region;
- and
- (iii) directing the flow of each droplet into a selected branch channel according to the results of the interrogation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.