Methods and devices for the formation and/or merging of droplets in microfluidic systems are provided. In certain embodiments a microfluidic droplet merger component is provided that comprises a central channel comprising a plurality of elements disposed and spaced to create a plurality of lateral passages that drain a carrier fluid out of a fluid stream comprising droplets of a first fluid contained in the carrier fluid; and a deformable lateral membrane valve disposed to control the width of said center channel.

The present invention is related to an electrochemical reactor (1) and a microfluidic platform (20) comprising this reactor (1), controlling pH in a closed environment, wherein this reactor (1) comprises at least one cell (2), wherein each cell (2) containing at least one micro-well (3a) able to contain a liquid and reagents and a cap (7) to close the said cell (2) and wherein the cell (2) further comprises at least one working electrode (5) producing reversible REDOX reactions.

Functionalized aryldiazonium salts and films formed by electrografting of functionalized aryldiazonium salts are provided. Methods for purifying functionalized aryldiazonium salts and for coating solid support systems with functionalized aryldiazonium salts are also provided. These coated solid support systems can be used, for example, in methods of oligonucleotide synthesis.

Polymers synthesized by solid-phase synthesis are selectively released from a solid support by reversing the bias of spatially addressable electrodes. Change in the current and voltage direction at one or more of the spatially addressable electrodes changes the ionic environment which triggers cleavage of linkers that leads to release of the attached polymers. The spatially addressable electrodes may be implemented as CMOS inverters embedded in an integrated circuit (IC). The IC may contain an array of many thousands of spatially addressable electrodes. Control circuity may independently reverse the bias on any of the individual electrodes in the array. This provides fine-grained control of which polymers are released from the solid support. Examples of polymers that may be synthesized on this type of array include oligonucleotides and peptides.

There is disclosed a microarray having base cleavable linkers and a process of making the microarray. The microarray has a solid surface with known locations, each having reactive hydroxyl groups. The density of the known locations is greater than approximately 100 locations per square centimeter. Optionally, oligomers are synthesized in situ onto the cleavable linkers and subsequently cleaved using a cleaving base. Optionally, the oligomers are cleaved and recovered as a pool of oligomers.

Methods and devices for the formation and/or merging of droplets in microfluidic systems are provided. In certain embodiments a microfluidic droplet merger component is provided that comprises a central channel comprising a plurality of elements disposed and spaced to create a plurality of lateral passages that drain a carrier fluid out of a fluid stream comprising droplets of a first fluid contained in the carrier fluid; and a deformable lateral membrane valve disposed to control the width of said center channel.

Polymers synthesized by solid-phase synthesis are selectively released from a solid support by reversing the bias of spatially addressable electrodes. Change in the current and voltage direction at one or more of the spatially addressable electrodes changes the ionic environment which triggers cleavage of linkers that leads to release of the attached polymers. The spatially addressable electrodes may be implemented as CMOS inverters embedded in an integrated circuit (IC). The IC may contain an array of many thousands of spatially addressable electrodes. Control circuitry may independently reverse the bias on any of the individual electrodes in the array. This provides fine-grained control of which polymers are released from the solid support. Examples of polymers that may be synthesized on this type of array include oligonucleotides and peptides.

There is disclosed a microarray having base cleavable linkers and a process of making the microarray. The microarray has a solid surface with known locations, each having reactive hydroxyl groups. The density of the known locations is greater than approximately 100 locations per square centimeter. Optionally, oligomers are synthesized in situ onto the cleavable linkers and subsequently cleaved using a cleaving base. Optionally, the oligomers are cleaved and recovered as a pool of oligomers.

A method of storing information using monomers such as nucleotides is provided including converting a format of information into a plurality of bit sequences of a bit stream with each having a corresponding bit barcode, converting the plurality of bit sequences to a plurality of corresponding oligonucleotide sequences using one bit per base encoding, synthesizing the plurality of corresponding oligonucleotide sequences on a substrate having a plurality of reaction locations, and storing the synthesized plurality of corresponding oligonucleotide sequences.

A method of synthesizing an oligonucleotide using a nanofluidic device including a plurality of nanopore channels, a plurality of electrodes, and an electrolyte solution, includes coupling a primer to an inner wall of a nanopore channel of the plurality of nanopore channels, the primer having a protecting group. The method also includes applying a voltage to an electrode of the plurality of electrodes that corresponds to the nanopore channel to produce an acid from the electrolyte solution at the electrode. The electrode includes an anode and a cathode disposed at opposite sides of the nanopore channel. The method further includes the acid removing the protecting group from the primer. Moreover, the method includes coupling a nucleotide to the primer with the protecting group removed to form an intermediate product. In addition, the method includes repeating the steps on the intermediate product until the oligonucleotide is synthesized.