Apparatuses and methods involving spatiotemporal sequencing of droplet assays

Abstract

A particular microfluidic assay example uses spatiotemporal sequencing of droplet assays. The method includes differentiating discrete volumes (“droplets”) of different samples in a microfluidic chamber (or channel) for differentiation of the droplets, via coding of the droplets based on spatiotemporal sequencing of the droplets (e.g., encoded via their movement into the microfluidic device to form a temporal order that is at least partially preserved as a spatial pattern), and certain of the droplets of different groups may be created to encapsulate respective chemicals (e.g., each of the different groups having a single type of molecule), and in at least one location within the microfluidic chamber one type of the different groups may have a spatial order that is consistent with the spatiotemporal sequencing. Further, groups of one type may have a spatial order within the secondary region that is monotonic with a related initial temporal order.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.