A pipette tip made of plastic with an elongated tubular body with a lower opening at the lower end for the passage of liquid and an upper opening at the upper end for clamping onto an attachment of a pipetting device, wherein a seating region for the attachment is present next to the upper opening on the inner circumference of the tubular body, wherein at least one flattened area extending in the axial direction is present next to the upper opening on the outer circumference of the tubular body, the wall thickness of the tubular body gradually decreases in a cross-section through the tubular body, starting from one of the two regions of the tubular body adjoining the flattened area, in the flattened area towards its central region, and the flattened area has in the cross-section through the tubular body a straight or a less strongly curved profile than the adjoining regions.

Microfluidic device comprising at least one cell culture unit for forming, culturing, growing and/or maintaining a 3D tissue structure such as a 3D strip of cardiac tissue, wherein the at least one cell culture unit comprises: a respective culture chamber for culturing cells having a chamber outlet opening; and a cell supply channel arranged to guide a microfluidic flow of liquid holding cells between a channel inlet and a channel outlet, wherein the cell supply channel is provided with a flow inhibitor which is operable to selectively provide a flow inhibiting state or a flow permitting state depending on a fluid pressure at the flow inhibitor, wherein, in the flow inhibiting state, the flow inhibitor is configured to substantially inhibit liquid flow between the cell supply channel and the culture chamber, wherein, in the flow permitting state, the flow inhibitor is configured to permit such liquid flow such that the cell supply channel is in liquid communication with the culture chamber to supply the culture chamber with cells, wherein the culture chamber is provided with at least two mutually spaced apart elastic support structures which extend in the culture chamber and which are configured for elastically supporting a tissue formed in the culture chamber, in particular a cultured 3D tissue formed from the cells, wherein the elastic support structures are elastically deformable, in particular flexible, in particular to vary a mutual distance of said support structures under influence of a varying contraction force between said support structures.

The present invention relates to test devices comprising one or more retaining members for removably retaining a sample applicator, sample applicators for use with such test devices, and kits comprising test devices and sample applicators of the invention.

There are provided a hydrogel fluid device which includes a flow path having an arbitrary shape that can be formed by a simple method and in which a material of a base component can be arbitrarily selected and the mechanical strength is excellent when the flow path is processed, and a method of producing the same. A hydrogel fluid device 1 includes a film hydrogel 3 having an adhesive area 3a for a base component 2 and a non-adhesive area 3b for the base component 2, a flow path 4 that is formed due to swelling of the hydrogel constituting the non-adhesive area 3b, and a bulk gel 5 that covers one surface of the film hydrogel 3 outside the flow path 4 and composed of a polymer material having a lower degree of swelling than the hydrogel before swelling; and a method of producing a hydrogel fluid device includes providing a layer of a hydrogel on the base component 2 so that the adhesive area 3a for the base component 2 and the non-adhesive area 3b for the base component 2 are formed, forming the flow path 4 by swelling the hydrogel, covering the outside of the flow path 4 with a polymer material having a lower degree of swelling than the hydrogel before swelling, and swelling the bulk polymer material.

The present invention provides self-contained systems, apparatus and methods for determining a chemical state, the system includes a stationary cartridge for performing the assay therein, the cartridge adapted to house at least one reagent adapted to react with a sample; and at least one reporter functionality adapted to report a reaction of the at least one reagent with the sample to report a result of the assay, a mechanical controller including a first urging means adapted to apply a force externally onto the cartridge to release the at least one reagent; and at least one second urging means adapted to apply a removable force to induce fluidic movement in a first direction in the cartridge and upon removal of the force causing fluidic movement in an opposite direction to the first direction, an optical reader adapted to detect the reaction and a processor adapted to receive data from the optical reader and to process the data to determine said chemical state.

Automation compatible removable lids are provided. The removable lids include a top surface surrounded by a peripheral rim. The removable lids further include septal portions configured to receive an extractor, such as a pipette tip, inserted therethrough. The septal portions are further configured to grip the extractor to facilitate lid removal.

A microfluidic chip includes a functional area, which is covered by a flexible or deformable cover. The cover has an expansion limiter. This expansion limiter can for example be embodied as a stable plate including one or more than one opening. The expansion limiter may be fixedly connected to the cover.

The present invention provides a droplet generator. The droplet generator includes a large-corner continuous U-shaped flow channel on the encoded microsphere flow channel. Controlling the turning radius of the continuous U-shaped flow channel prevents the blockage resulted from accumulation of microfibers in the encoded microsphere suspension at the turn of the continuous U-shaped flow channel. A buffer tank is arranged at the encoded microsphere flow channel, which is used for the pre-arrangement of the encoded microspheres, to increase the controllability of the flow rate of the encoded microspheres. The buffer tank is provided in the oil-phase flow channel to prevent the oil phase from infiltrating into the aqueous phase due to excessive flow rate, and increase the controllability of the oil phase flow rate. The droplet generator has simple structure, low cost, high-throughput, and high-stability, and may be used to prepare single-cell single-encoded microsphere droplets.

This disclosure provides an integrated and automated sample-to-answer system that, starting from a sample comprising biological material, generates a genetic profile in less than two hours. In certain embodiments, the biological material is DNA and the genetic profile involves determining alleles at one or a plurality of loci (e.g., genetic loci) of a subject, for example, an STR (short tandem repeat) profile, for example as used in the CODIS system. The system can perform several operations, including (a) extraction and isolation of nucleic acid; (b) amplification of nucleotide sequences at selected loci (e.g., genetic loci); and (c) detection and analysis of amplification product. These operations can be carried out in a system that comprises several integrated modules, including an analyte preparation module; a detection and analysis module and a control module.

Vial assemblies comprise a tubular body and a cap, the cap including a first portion configured to abut a lip of an open end of the tubular body, a threaded portion configured to couple to threading on an internal surface of the tubular body, and a second portion protruding from the threaded portion and extending into a cavity of the tubular body. Methods for storing and removing frozen samples from such vial assemblies are also described.