Among other things, the present invention is related to devices and methods of sample holders that facilitate biological and chemical assays, and use of the same. Particularly, the present invention is related to an assay sample hold (also termed card) that comprises two plates that are movable relative to each other and that can sandwich a sample between the two plates. One objective of the present invention is to provide sample holders that are easy to separate them when the plates are stacked two plates, easy to handle by one hand while loading a sample, easy to fabricate, and/or low in cost. Another objective of the present invention is to ensure the two plates stay together when they are insert into a slot of an adaptor for analyzing the sample sandwiched between the two plates. The present invention offers particular advantages to simple and easy operation in the cases of (a) the plates' thickness very thin in down to 1 um (micron) thick (or both of the plates of 25 um thick), and (b) small plate area size which is not easy to handle by hands (e.g. the plate is a few cm long and wide).

Used for running a polymerase chain reaction, a thermal cycler includes a main body having a chamber, and inside of the chamber is provided with a protocol running device port and a sample block for placing reaction tubes. When a protocol running device is put into the protocol running device port, the main body may execute a thermal cycle onto the reaction tubes according to a protocol stored in the protocol running device.

The invention provides an apparatus comprising a reactionware and an analytical device for analysing a reaction, the analytical device comprising at least a plurality of reaction sensors and the analytical device is configured for placement of a plurality of sensors in the reaction space of the reactionware, and optionally the reaction headspace of the reactionware, and the reactionware is a reaction flask having one or more necks, and the analytical device is held in a neck of the reaction flask.

Sample preparation unit, preferably for sterility testing: a housing body including at least two ports adapted to serve as fluid inlet and/or fluid outlet, a membrane support, and a lid part such that a membrane chamber is defined adjacent said membrane support. One of at least two ports is arranged so as to allow a fluid transfer to/from a first volume of the membrane chamber at a position upstream of a membrane to be placed on the membrane support, and the other ports arranged to allow fluid transfer to/from a second volume of said membrane chamber at a position downstream of a membrane to be placed on said membrane support. A movable part is provided on housing body such that the movable part and housing body are movable relative to each other, selectively interrupting/establishing fluid transfer between at least one of two ports and the membrane chamber.

A microfluidic chip and a driving method thereof are provided. The microfluidic chip includes a base substrate, a driving circuit array, a first decoding circuit, and a second decoding circuit, the driving circuit array, the first decoding circuit, and the second decoding circuit are all integrated on the base substrate; the first decoding circuit is configured to generate and output a target scan driving signal to the driving circuit array; the second decoding circuit is configured to generate and output a target driving voltage signal to the driving circuit array; and the driving circuit array is configured to control an operation of a liquid droplet over the driving circuit array based on the target scan driving signal and the target driving voltage signal.

The invention relates to methods and compositions useful for routing and tracking multiple mobile units within a microfluidic device. Mobile units may be routed through a plurality of chemical environments, and the mobile units may be tracked to determine the path and/or environments that the mobile units have routed through. Mobile units may be routed in accordance with a predetermined algorithm. Mobile units may be routed through microfluidic devices in ordered flow. Absolute or relative position of a unit inside a microfluidic device, e.g. within an ordered set of units, may be used to identify the routing path history of the unit.

A container has a tubular form, and has gel-like medium layers and liquid layers alternately stacked in a longitudinal direction. Magnetic particles, having a target substance immobilized thereon and loaded inside the container, can be moved sequentially through the gel-like medium layers and the liquid layers by moving an external magnet. The container has an information holding part that holds identification information. The identification information is correlated to a control program product for moving the magnet.

A composition system which is a mixture of colloids forming a physical code is implanted into a product and later extracted and read to authenticate the product thus providing secure means to check the authenticity of the product against counterfeiting.

Provided are devices systems and methods for evaluation of hemostasis. In some embodiments, an apparatus is disclosed comprising a housing, a plurality of test chambers located in the housing, the plurality of test chambers including chambers configured for measurements via a system that interrogates one or more viscoelastic properties of test samples in the test chambers, wherein the one or more viscoelastic properties is used to characterize dynamics of coagulation and/or fibrinolysis.

A microfluidic device includes an integrated circuit and a first substrate layer having a first surface and a second surface. The first surface of the first substrate layer is connected to the integrated circuit. The first substrate layer is in fluid communication with the integrated circuit. The microfluidic device also includes a second substrate layer having a surface area substantially larger than that of the first substrate layer. The second substrate layer includes a first and second surface. The first surface of the second substrate layer is connected to the second surface of the first substrate layer. The second substrate layer includes a first fluid inlet. The second substrate layer is in fluid communication with the integrated circuit through the first substrate layer.