An example of a flow cell includes a substrate; a plurality of reactive regions extending along the substrate; and a non-reactive region separating one of the plurality of reactive regions from an adjacent one of the plurality of reactive regions. Each of the plurality of reactive regions includes alternating first and second areas positioned along the reactive region. Each of the first areas includes a first primer set and each of the second areas includes a second primer set that is different than the first primer set. Either adjacent first and second areas directly abut each other, or) the first areas are positioned on protrusions and the second areas are positioned in depressions adjacent to the protrusions.

An electronically-controlled digital ferrofluidic device is disclosed which employs a network of individually addressable coils in conjunction with one or more movable permanent magnets, where each moveable permanent magnet delivers the designated fluid manipulation-based tasks. The underlying mechanism facilitating fluidic operations is realized by addressable electromagnetic actuation of miniaturized mobile magnets that exert localized magnetic body forces on droplets filled with magnetic nanoparticles. The reconfigurable, contactless, and non-interfering magnetic-field operation properties of the underlying actuation mechanism allow for the integration of passive and active components to implement advanced and diverse operations with high efficiency (e.g., droplet sorting, dispensing, generation, merging, mixing, filtering, and analysis).

A microfluidic chip orients and isolates components in a sample fluid mixture by two step focusing, where sheath fluids compress the sample fluid mixture in a sample input channel in one direction, such that the sample fluid mixture becomes a narrower stream bounded by the sheath fluids, and by having the sheath fluids compress the sample fluid mixture in a second direction further downstream, such that the components are compressed and oriented in a selected direction to pass through an interrogation chamber in single file formation for identification and separation by various methods. The isolation mechanism utilizes external, stacked piezoelectric actuator assemblies disposed on a microfluidic chip holder, or piezoelectric actuator assemblies on-chip, so that the actuator assemblies are triggered by an electronic signal to actuate jet chambers on either side of the sample input channel, to jet selected components in the sample input channel into one of the output channels.

A system for selective microcapsule extraction includes a non-planar core-shell microfluidic device. The non-planar core-shell microfluidic device generates microcapsules defining a core-shell configuration. A subset of the microcapsules contain aggregates, tissues, or at least one cell. A camera captures images of the microcapsules. A detection module includes a processor and a memory. The memory includes instructions that when executed by the processor causes the detection module to provide the images of the microcapsules as an input to a machine learning model. The machine learning model identifies microcapsules containing aggregates, tissues, or at least one cell. A force generator generates a force to extract the microcapsules. A microcontroller selectively activates the force generator to generate the force when the detection module identifies a microcapsule containing aggregates, tissues, or at least one cell to extract the microcapsule.

The present disclosure relates to a bioparticle measuring method including detecting a signal from a first measurement sample and a signal from a second measurement sample, wherein the first measurement sample is prepared by mixing a first sample containing a bioparticle sampled from a specimen with a detector capable of binding to the bioparticle and containing a labeled substance, in the presence of an inhibitor capable of binding to the bioparticle and containing none of the labeled substance. The second measurement sample is prepared by mixing a second sample sampled from the same specimen independently from the first sample with the detector, under a condition that the inhibitor is substantially absent. A measurement result is then calculated from the detected signals from the first and second measurement samples.

This disclosure provides an impedance cytometer which includes a carrier that can be attached to a living being, with a biosensor mounted thereto. The bio sensor includes a microfluidic flow channel, formed in the carrier, and an impedance circuit. The microfluidic flow channel accommodates passage of a particle therethrough. The impedance circuit, connected to the microfluidic flow channel, includes a signal generator that produces a high-frequency drive signal applied to the flow channel to produce a biosensor output signal having high-frequency variation resulting from the drive signal and low-frequency variation resulting from impedance variation within the flow channel during the particle's passage. A lock-in amplifier is disposed to (i) amplify the bio sensor output signal, (ii) mix the amplified signal with the drive signal, and (iii) frequency-filter the mixed, amplified signal to output an impedance signal representing the low-frequency impedance variation resulting from the passage of the particle. Embodiments enable wearable, personalized cytometry.

A portable air quality monitoring device is disclosed that can identify the type of particles in the air. This device takes images of particles in the air and compares them with a library of particles in its memory to identify the type of particles. The device has a housing that draws ambient air into the system and takes microscopic images of the flowing particles and droplets using flash photography. The device can be stand alone or can connect to the back of a mobile phone and use the mobile phone camera and light. People can upload their local air quality data online for all to see the local air quality.

A liquid droplet and solid particle sensing device is provided that can measure the average droplet size in a spray. The present device uses a swirling flow to draw a particulate or a spry into the device for sizing and counting. The swirling flow is configured to keep all the particles away from the walls of the device and to concentrate them at the center of a flow channel to pass through the center of a light beam for high sensitivity and repeatability of the measurement.

An example method includes introducing a first fluid to a flow channel of a flow cell including a working electrode having a surface that is at least partially exposed to the flow channel, the surface being unmodified or modified with a first member of a transition metal complex binding pair, whereby a linking moiety of a complex present in the first fluid chemically attaches the complex to the surface to form a temporarily modified surface of the working electrode; performing a sensing operation involving the complex of the temporarily modified surface; and applying a desorption voltage of the linking moiety to the working electrode, thereby detaching the linking moiety and regenerating the surface.

A discrimination system that forms a fluid column and interrogates objects within the fluid column with an excitation source. An optical arrangement collects output electromagnetic radiation emanating from the excited objects disposed within the fluid column and directs the output electromagnetic radiation to a detector. An analyzer reduces the positional dependency of the detected intensity by normalizing the value based on the position of each object.