Provided herein are systems, methods, and articles of manufacture for collecting and merging two different size droplets using a substrate comprising a plurality of trapping sites. In certain embodiments, provided herein are systems composed of a plurality of larger droplets and smaller droplets and a substrate comprising a plurality of trapping sites where each trapping site is configured to trap only one of the larger droplets and only one of the smaller droplets when the larger droplet is already present at the trapping site. In particular embodiments, the larger and/or smaller droplets are sorted prior to being contacted with the substrate to ensure they contain the desired component (e.g., cell or barcoded bead). In other embodiments, each trapping site is composed of one or multiple fluidically linked capture wells. In some embodiments, collected larger and smaller droplets are merged (e.g., via a demulsifier or electricity).

A cartridge for use with an instrument to perform measurement of a fluid, including a digital microfluidics substrate comprising a plurality of electrowetting electrodes operative to perform droplet operations on a liquid droplet in a droplet operations gap; a top plate separated from the digital microfluidics substrate to form a droplet operations gap and comprising openings for injecting liquids into the droplet operations gap; a fiber assembly comprising a fiber optic probe projecting into the droplet operations gap and having a sensing end situated in proximity with one or more of the electrowetting electrodes.

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.

The present random access PCR reactor for biological analysis, comprises of a number of PCR reactors held on a platform, and one optical system to be shared by all of the PCR reactors on the platform. The optical system is held on a traverse mechanism to move it over any one of the PCR reactors that are ready to be imaged. Other PCR reactors on the platform can be accesses and replaced. The optical system has a lightpipe and a lightguide that distributes a uniform light over all the samples held on the reactor. The lightguide of the present optical system has a set of light reflecting structures that are strategically located to uniformly reflect an incoming light towards all the samples held in the PCR reactor that is being tested.

A system or method for detecting an immune system activation state in a patient can include a sample preparation system configured to isolate white blood cells from a sample of the patient, a cytometry module configured to determine biophysical properties of the white blood cells of the sample, and an analysis module configured to analyze the biophysical properties.

A method and/or system can include processing a blood sample of a patient by degrading red blood cells of the blood sample using a lysing solution, quenching the degradation of the red blood cells after a threshold lysing time, centrifuging and aspirating the quenched solution to remove degraded red blood cell debris and concentrate white blood cells of the blood sample, and suspending the concentrated white blood cells in a buffer solution; within a threshold transfer time, deforming white blood cells, of the suspended white blood cells, within a microfluidic chip; and determining a probability that the patient is in an immune activation state based on images of the white blood cells acquired while deforming the white blood cells.

Systems and a device for a pathogen detection system are described herein. For example, a pathogen detection system may include a pathogen detection device comprising an inlet, an outlet, and a reactive chamber; an imaging system comprising an excitation source and a fluorescence detection system; a substrate; and a heating element. In some examples, the pathogen detection system may be configured to detect one or more pathogens and/or viruses in a sample. For example, the pathogen detection device may receive a solution containing at least one of DNA or RNA and route the solution to the reactive chamber. Upon heating the solution, the pathogen detection device may further receive a probe containing one or more fluorescent dyes. The excitation source may excite the solution, and the detection system may detect an emission of the one or more fluorescent dyes.

Provided herein are devices and methods for analysis of male fertility. The invention provides self-contained, hand-held receptacles and systems for collection and analysis of semen samples and methods of using such devices to analyze semen samples. Also provided are processor-implemented and machine learning methods of analyzing semen sample data obtained using devices of the invention.

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.