Digital microfluidic (DMF) apparatuses and methods for optically-induced heating and manipulating droplets are described herein. DMF apparatuses employing photonic heating as described herein provide radical simplification of routing droplets/reagents in complex, multistep protocols and/or highly plexed workflows.

The present invention generally relates to droplet libraries and to systems and methods for the formation of libraries of droplets. The present invention also relates to methods utilizing these droplet libraries in various biological, chemical, or diagnostic assays.

An assembly is provided for interfacing with a microfluidic chip having at least one microscopic channel configured to receive a liquid sample for analysis. The assembly includes a chip carrier, an electronics module, an optical module, and a mechanical module. The chip carrier includes a base and a cover defining a cavity to receive the microfluidic chip. The electronics module includes a signal generator which applies at least one electrokinetic signal electrode(s) of the chip. The optical module includes an excitation radiation source which causes excitation radiation to impinge on the sample, and an emission radiation detector which detects radiation emitted from the sample. The mechanical module includes a chip-carrier receiving structure, relatable with respect to the optical module for focus and at least one degree of translational freedom.

Systems, methods, techniques, devices and apparatuses for detecting cancer. A handheld device which performs an automated analysis from a droplet of whole blood for other bodily fluid. The device is inexpensive, non-invasive, easy to use, and easily transportable, enabling better screening for a wider range of diseases, enabling the detection of metastases at an earlier stage, when interventions are more effective, enabling regular monitoring of patients receiving therapy or those in remission, and enabling a major contribution to the growing body of scientific evidence on how to treat certain cancers based on information gathered about the genomic profile of a tumor. In short, the present invention saves more lives, with fewer resources, and causing minimal harm than prior art techniques.

Disclosed in the embodiments of the present application are a microelectrode of a gene sequencing chip, a manufacturing method therefor, and a gene sequencing chip. The microelectrode comprises a substrate, a current collector layer formed on the substrate, and an electrode layer formed on the current collector layer; the current collector layer comprises a transition metal thin film or a nitride thin film thereof or a composite thin film of a transition metal and nitride thereof, and the electrode layer comprises a nitrogen oxide thin film of the transition metal, which is formed on the transition metal thin film or the nitride thin film thereof or the composite thin film of the transition metal and nitride thereof The embodiments of the present application improve the per unit area voltage driving capabilities of a microelectrode in a gene sequencing chip, can meet requirements for an ultra-high number of cycles, and improve the throughput and stability of a gene sequencing chip.

A digital microfluidic (DMF) system, DMF cartridge, and method including integrated refractive index (RI) sensing is disclosed. The digital microfluidic DMF system and DMF cartridge may include, for example, a RI sensor (or sensor surface) directly in the droplet operations gap of a DMF cartridge. The digital microfluidic DMF system may include, for example, the DMF cartridge, one or more illumination sources, one or more optical measurement devices, and a controller. Additionally, a method of using the DMF system and DMF cartridge that includes integrated RI sensing is provided.

Devices and methods for characterization of analyte mixtures are provided. Some methods described herein include performing enrichment steps on a device before expelling enriched analyte fractions from the device for subsequent analysis. Also included are devices for performing these enrichment steps.

A single junction sorter for a microfluidic particle sorter, the single-junction sorter comprising: an input channel, configured to receive a fluid containing particles; an output sort channel and an output waste channel, each connected to the input channel for receiving the fluid therefrom; a bubble generator, operable to selectively displace the fluid around a particle to be sorted and thereby to create a transient flow of the fluid in the input channel; and a vortex element, configured to cause a vortex in the transient flow in order to direct the particle to be sorted into the output sort channel.

One variation of a pathogen detection system includes an air sampler and a cartridge. The air sampler includes: a housing defining an inlet and an outlet; a tunnel arranged within the housing and extending between the inlet and the outlet; a charge electrode arranged within the tunnel proximal the inlet; a cartridge receptacle arranged proximal the outlet and comprising a cartridge terminal; and a power supply configured to drive a voltage between the charge electrode and the cartridge terminal. The cartridge includes: a substrate; a collector plate arranged on the substrate and configured to collect charged bioaerosols moving through the tunnel; and a connector configured to transiently engage the cartridge receptacle to locate the substrate and the collector plate within the tunnel and electrically couple the collector plate to the cartridge terminal.

An exemplary mobile impedance-based flow cytometer is developed for the diagnosis of sickle cell disease. The mobile cytometer may be controlled by a computer (e.g., smartphone) application. Calibration of the portable device may be performed using a component of known impedance value. With the developed portable flow cytometer, analysis may be performed on two sickle cell samples and a healthy cell sample. The acquired results may subsequently be analyzed to extract single-cell level impedance information as well as statistics of different cell conditions. Significant differences in cell impedance signals may be observed between sickle cells and normal cells, as well as between sickle cells under hypoxia and normoxia conditions.