Methods and apparatus for treating samples with acoustic energy
AssigneeCovaris, Inc.
InventorsJames A. Laugharn, JR., Brevard S. Garrison, Douglas A. Yates
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
This invention relates to systems and methods for applying acoustic energy to a sample. According to one aspect of the invention, a system comprises a housing, a chamber for receiving the sample, an acoustic energy source for providing a focused acoustic field to the sample according to a treatment protocol, a processor for determining the treatment protocol, a sensor for detecting information about the sample, and a user interface for communicating with a user.
Claims23
A method for fragmenting a sample contained in a vessel, comprising:
- providing a vessel containing a sample;
- pressurizing the sample such that a pressure within the vessel is greater than one atmosphere;
- transmitting focused acoustic energy having a focal zone to the sample through a wall of the vessel;
- forming a plurality of cavitation bubbles in the sample while the sample is under a pressure of greater than one atmosphere by, at least in part, exposure of the sample to the focal zone of the focused acoustic energy;
- collapsing the plurality of cavitation bubbles while the sample is under a pressure of greater than one atmosphere so as to produce increased shear forces within the sample consequent to cavitation bubble collapse;
- and
- fragmenting at least a portion of the sample by, at least in part, exposure of the sample to the shear forces.
A method of fragmenting a DNA sample contained in a vessel, comprising:
- providing vessel containing a sample, the sample containing DNA strands having a first length;
- pressurizing the sample such that a pressure within the vessel is greater than or equal to 2 atmospheres;
- transmitting focused acoustic energy having a focal zone to the sample through a wall of the vessel;
- forming a plurality of cavitation bubbles in the sample by, at least in part, exposure of the sample to the focal zone of the focused acoustic energy;
- collapsing at least a portion of the cavitation bubbles so as to produce shear forces within the sample consequent to cavitation bubble collapse;
- and
- fragmenting at least a portion of the DNA strands by, at least in part, exposure of the sample to the shear forces, such that the majority of the DNA strands in the sample have a second length between 100 base pairs and 500 base pairs.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.