The invention describes a method for the synthesis of compounds comprising the steps of: (a) compartmentalising two or more sets of primary compounds into microcapsules; such that a proportion of the microcapsules contains two or more compounds; and (b) forming secondary compounds in the microcapsules by chemical reactions between primary compounds from different sets; wherein one or both of steps (a) and (b) is performed under microfluidic control; preferably electronic microfluidic control The invention further allows for the identification of compounds which bind to a target component of a biochemical system or modulate the activity of the target, and which is co-compartmentalised into the microcapsules.

The present invention provides microfabricated substrates and methods of conducting reactions within these substrates. The reactions occur in plugs transported in the flow of a carrier-fluid.

The present invention is generally related to systems and methods for producing a plurality of droplets. The droplets may contain varying species, e.g., for use as a library. In some cases, the fluidic droplets may be rigidified to form rigidified droplets (e.g., gel droplets). In certain embodiments, the droplets may undergo a phase change (e.g., from rigidified droplets to fluidized droplets), as discussed more herein. In some cases, a species may be added internally to a droplet by exposing the droplet to a fluid comprising a plurality of species.

The present invention provides microfabricated substrates and methods of conducting reactions within these substrates. The reactions occur in plugs transported in the flow of a carrier-fluid.

The present invention provides microfabricated substrates and methods of conducting reactions within these substrates. The reactions occur in plugs transported in the flow of a carrier-fluid.

Precursors for forming a plurality of multielement materials of different compositions can be deposited on different portions of a common substrate according to a combinatorial approach. The substrate can be subjected to a thermal shock, thereby converting the deposited precursors into separate multielement materials on the substrate. The thermal shock can be a temperature greater than or equal to 500° C. and a duration less than 60 seconds. In some embodiments, each multielement material can be tested with respect to an electrical property, a chemical property, or an optical property. Based on the results of the testing, a composition of a multielement material can be determined for use in a predetermined application, such as use as a catalyst, a plasmonic nanoparticle, an energy storage device, an optoelectronic device, a solid-state electrolyte, or an ion conductive membrane.

Disclosed herein include methods of specifying sites (e.g., sites for colony formation) on a surface (e.g., a planar surface) and generating a flow cell having the sites specified on a surface. Also disclosed are methods of performing sequencing (e.g., sequencing-by-synthesis and sequencing-by-binding) using the flow cell generated and processing (e.g., aligning, orienting, sorting, and assessing quality) images of the flow cell captured during sequencing.

The present invention provides microfabricated substrates and methods of conducting reactions within these substrates. The reactions occur in plugs transported in the flow of a carrier-fluid.

The invention generally relates to methods for quantifying an amount of enzyme molecules. Systems and methods of the invention are provided for measuring an amount of target by forming a plurality of fluid partitions, a subset of which include the target, performing an enzyme-catalyzed reaction in the subset, and detecting the number of partitions in the subset. The amount of target can be determined based on the detected number.

Multi-stage sample-recovery systems, including automated 2-stage and 3-stage sample-recovery systems, are provided. Such systems enable the rapid screening and recovery of samples, including viable cell-based samples, from high-throughput screening systems, including systems utilizing large-scale arrays of microcapillaries. In specific screening systems, each microcapillary comprises a solution containing a variant protein, an immobilized target molecule, and a reporter element. Immobilized target molecules may include any molecule of interest, including proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, and other biomolecules. The association of a variant protein with a molecular target is assessed by measuring a signal from the reporter element. The contents of microcapillaries identified in the assays as containing variant proteins of interest can be identified and recovered using the multi-stage systems disclosed herein.