A method of coating the inside wall of a capillary with a polymeric material for capillary electrophoresis is disclosed. The method can include introducing a catalyst-free solution of a monomer and initiator, wherein the monomer is present in about 1-10% (w/v) and the initiator is present in 0.1-1% (w/v), into a capillary and thermally initiating polymerization of the monomer thereby providing a capillary comprising an internal polymeric coating for separating, identifying, and quantifying components of an analyte.

The present invention relates to a microfluidic analysis device (1) including: a substrate (20) wherein a separation channel (10) is arranged, in which an electrolyte flows, a portion of the separation channel (10) being covered with a polarizable surface (11); two longitudinal field electrodes (8a, 8b) arranged on either side of the separation channel (10); at least one control electrode (6a, 6b) positioned in the separation channel (10), the control electrode (6a, 6b) being suitable for polarizing the polarizable surface (11) so as to control the speed of the electro-osmotic flow in the separation channel (10); the microfluidic analysis device (1) being characterised in that the polarizable surface (11) includes an insulating sub-layer (12) made of amorphous silicon carbide (SiC) and an upper polarizable layer (13) in direct contact with the electrolyte, the control electrodes (6a, 6b) being positioned between the insulating sub-layer (12) and the upper polarizable layer (13).

A capillary ionic transistor and method of using is disclosed. The method including providing a capillary pipette (100) having an inner surface defining a channel, and a conductive layer disposed (102) about electrode the channel; filling at least a portion of the channel with an ionic solution (110) such that an electrical double layer forms on the inner surface of the pipette; inducing an electric potential within the ionic solution sufficient to generate a longitudinal flow of ions within the channel; and inducing an electric potential in the conductive layer sufficient to alter the zeta potential of the electrical double layer and adjust the flow of ions within the ionic solution.

An elution apparatus and a detection apparatus are described. The elution apparatus includes: a sample trap for trapping a sample; and one or more pumps and/or valves to move a liquid eluent and a liquid eluate, wherein the eluate includes an extracted portion of the sample that is extracted by the eluent. The detection apparatus includes: a capillary having a low-voltage (LV) end portion to receive a sample; and a conductivity detector coupled to a high-voltage (HV) end portion of the capillary to generate signals based on conductivity of a monitored portion of the capillary in the HV end portion, wherein the conductivity detector is electrically isolated from the LV end portion.

The present invention relates generally to a sample processing device, such as a microfluidic device, comprising a substrate, wherein the substrate comprises a plurality of channels configured to transport a fluid, and wherein the plurality of channels are substantially coated with lubricin, or a functional variant thereof. Also disclosed herein are methods of manufacturing such devices, methods of preventing fouling of a channel in a device using lubricin, or a functional variant thereof and methods of controlling the electrokinetic flow of an analyte through a channel that is substantially coated with lubricin, or a functional variant thereof. Also disclosed herein is chromatographic material for the electrophoretic and/or chromatographic separation of an analyte, wherein the chromatographic material is substantially coated with lubricin, or a functional variant thereof.

A sensing device and a sensing method for operating the same are disclosed. An analytical sample is subjected to an electric field within a sample chamber using at least two electrodes. Initially, a holding voltage is provided such that the analyte in the analytical sample polarizes and diffuses towards one of the electrodes forming an electrode-electrolyte interface. Subsequently, a pulsating sweep voltage is provided across the two electrodes. A current-voltage profile and/or a capacitance-voltage profile of the analytical sample are determined. The analyte is identified and quantified based on the current-voltage profile and capacitance-voltage profile respectively.

The present invention relates to a method for determining size of biomolecules separated in a medium by an electric field using marker molecules of known size, comprising(101) detecting a plurality of bands and forming a detected marker sequence and a detected unknown sequence based on a separation criterion, (102) determining band properties for each detected band, (103) comparing the band properties of the detected bands of the detected marker sequence with known band properties for a plurality of marker molecules forming a known marker sequence and assigning a score to each comparison, said score being based on at least one of relative distance, relative intensity, expected distance and expected intensity between bands, (104) selecting the comparison with the highest score and associating all or a subset of the detected bands of the detected marker sequence with said plurality of marker molecules of the known marker sequence in accordance with said comparison to determine size of the all or a subset of the detected marker sequence, and (105) comparing the bands of the detected marker sequence with the bands of the detected unknown sequence to determine a size of biomolecules for each identified band of the detected unknown sequence based on the known sizes of the marker molecules. The invention also relates to software configured to perform the method and to a computer readable medium for storing said software.

A method of analyzing an exosome is provided for detecting abnormality in a cell, including: (a) a step of preparing an exosome from a sample; (b) a step of bringing the exosome prepared in the step (a) into contact with a first antibody to a protein which exists on the surface of the exosome as an antigen and forming a first antibody-exosome complex; and (c) a step of measuring a zeta potential of the first antibody-exosome complex.

A method and device for optically detecting particles, including: (a) a cell wall of rectangular cross-section is fitted on a longitudinal surface and adjoining transverse surface with an L-shaped heating and cooling element; (b) the center of the transverse surface of the cell wall opposite the transverse surface which forms the support of the cell wall is irradiated by an irradiation device and is observed at right angles to the optical axis of the irradiation device; (c) the focus of the irradiation device and the observation device can be moved by a motor to any point in the three-dimensional inner region defined by the cell wall; (d) the surface of the cell wall opposite the optical glass window through which the radiation from the irradiation device enters comprises another optical glass window; (e) the temperature of the surface of the cell wall is monitored by two thermistors.

A device determines information indicative for a zeta potential at the interface between a solid phase and a liquid phase. The device includes a pressure vessel, in which the liquid phase can be accommodated and a measuring cell, downstream of the pressure vessel and such that it can be brought into fluid communication with the pressure vessel and in which the solid phase can be accommodated. A storage vessel is downstream of and in fluid communication with the measuring cell. A pressure loading apparatus, loads the pressure vessel with a pressure profile with a temporally continuous pressure change so a liquid phase can be conveyed out of the pressure vessel through the measuring cell into the storage vessel. A detection apparatus detects the information indicative for the zeta potential at the measuring cell during the loading of the pressure vessel with the pressure profile.