Vitro evolution in microfluidic systems
AssigneesMedical Research Council, President and Fellows of Harvard College
InventorsAndrew David Griffiths, David Weitz, Darren Link, Keunho Ahn, Jerome Bibette
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Abstract
The invention describes a method for isolating one or more genetic elements encoding a gene product having a desired activity, comprising the steps of: (a) compartmentalising genetic elements into microcapsules; and (b) sorting the genetic elements which express the gene product having the desired activity; wherein at least one step is under microfluidic control. The invention enables the in vitro evolution of nucleic acids and proteins by repeated mutagenesis and iterative applications of the method of the invention.
Claims11
A method for providing a library of entities, comprising the steps of:
- producing a plurality of aqueous droplets by partitioning an aqueous fluid as it is flowing through a channel with an immiscible continuous phase that comprises a fluorinated oil and a fluorinated polymer surfactant, each droplet comprising at least one entity;
- and
- pooling the droplets into one or more common compartments that have larger cross-sectional areas than the channel that slows the velocity of the droplets as compared to their velocity within the channel, wherein the droplets contact each other but do not fuse within the one or more common compartments, thereby providing a library of encapsulated entities.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.