Microfluidic device and method for controlling fluid flow thereinto

Abstract

A microfluidic device (100), which has applications in disease detection and analysis, is disclosed. The device comprises a member (102) with a base having at least one well (110), the at least one well in fluid communication with an adjacent space (112), said space being in fluid communication with at least one channel (114, 118); and a vacuum generating device (108) coupled to the at least one channel. The vacuum generating device is configured to generate first and second absolute pressures that are each lower than atmospheric pressure at a first and a second regions of the microfluidic device respectively, wherein the first absolute pressure is higher than the second absolute pressure, thus generating a differential pressure between the first and second region of the microfluidic device to control a speed of a fluid flowing through the space of the device, for filling the at least one well progressively and/or facilitating retention of any material disposed in the at least one well. The controlled fluid flow also prevents cross contamination of specific biological and/or chemical substances pre-loaded in a plurality of such wells. A related thermocycler and methods are also disclosed.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.