The present invention discloses an electrophoretic chip comprising: (a) a non-conductive substrate designed to support elements of said electrophoretic chip; (b) an electrode structure for conducting current through said electrophoretic chip, printed on said non-conductive substrate and comprising a counter electrode and at least one working electrode, each electrode comprising a conductive low-resistance ink layer printed on the non-conductive substrate, and a carbon ink layer printed on top of and fully or partially covering said conductive low-resistance ink layer; (c) a dielectric ink insulator layer placed on top of, and covering, said electrode structure, said dielectric ink insulator layer having at least one opening above the counter electrode and at least one opening above said at least one working electrode, thereby forming at least one addressable location; and (d) a molecule capturing matrix spotted on and covering said at least one addressable location, thereby creating at least one microgel region.

Apparatus and method for separating whole cells from a mixture, e.g., including liquid, other cell types, nucleic acid material, or other components. Focused acoustic energy may be used to move whole cells in a chamber so that the cells exit the chamber via a first outlet rather than a second outlet. A filter may, or need not, be used to assist in separation.

A microfluidic chip orients and isolates components in a sample fluid mixture by two-step focusing, where sheath fluids compress the sample fluid mixture in a sample input channel in one direction, such that the sample fluid mixture becomes a narrower stream bounded by the sheath fluids, and by having the sheath fluids compress the sample fluid mixture in a second direction further downstream, such that the components are compressed and oriented in a selected direction to pass through an interrogation chamber in single file formation for identification and separation by various methods. The isolation mechanism utilizes external, stacked piezoelectric actuator assemblies disposed on a microfluidic chip holder, or piezoelectric actuator assemblies on-chip, so that the actuator assemblies are triggered by an electronic signal to actuate jet chambers on either side of the sample input channel, to jet selected components in the sample input channel into one of the output channels.

A microfluidic device 10 is provided that includes a porous substrate 12 and a plurality of reaction channels 14 disposed on a first side 36 of the porous substrate 12. The reaction channels 14 are defined by a barrier material 16 disposed on the substrate 12 in a user-defined pattern 13. At least one reagent 18 is disposed within each reaction channel 14 in an amount effective to test for the presence of at least one analyte or property in a sample introduced to the device 10.

The present invention discloses a multi-flux microfluidic chip for nucleic acid detection and capable of actively controlling a flow path, and a use method thereof. The detection chip includes a chip body, and the chip body is provided with a sample loading chamber, a reaction chamber, and a microfluidic channel, where there is a plurality of reaction chambers, and the microfluidic channel includes a sample output main channel and several sample distribution channels. The sample distribution channels are separately disposed, and include sample distribution chamber sample output channels and reaction chamber sample input channels, where the sample distribution chamber sample output channels and the reaction chamber sample input channels can be communicated through sample distribution connection channels formed through heat sealing processing for a thin film on the chip body, and a thin film part of the sample distribution connection channel can form a sample distribution occlusion portion after undergoing heat sealing processing, to intercept the flow in the sample distribution channels. Therefore, the present invention uses heat sealing technology to replace a micro valve to control opening/closing of a channel, so as to decrease the number of parts mounted on the microfluidic chip, and reduce the continuous work of an instrument and energy consumption thereof. Moreover, the present invention achieves a multi-flux detection effect.

A cartridge for use in in-vitro diagnostics, the cartridge including a cartridge housing defining a plurality of operational volumes, at least some of the plurality of operational volumes being mutually linearly aligned and a fluid solution transporter operative to transfer fluid solutions from at least one of the plurality of operational volumes to at least another of the plurality of operational volumes, the fluid solution transporter including a linearly displaceable transport element operative to sequentially communicate with interiors of the at least some of the plurality of operational volumes.

A micro-fluidic device is provided to sort out objects from a liquid stream. The device comprises a first channel comprising a first liquid and a second channel comprising a second liquid and the first liquid, and a third channel. The second channel is connected to the first channel and the channels are positioned such that a jet flow coming from the second channel can deflect objects in the first liquid into the third channel. The first liquid is a liquid which has a higher viscosity than water and the second liquid may be the same as or different from the first liquid. The micro-fluidic device is adapted for generating the jet flow in the second liquid.

Provided are devices, systems and methods for evaluation of hemostasis. In some embodiments, an apparatus is disclosed comprising a housing; a plurality of test chambers located in the housing, the plurality of test chambers including chambers configured for measurements via a system that interrogates one or more viscoelastic properties of test samples in the test chambers, wherein the one or more viscoelastic properties is used to characterize dynamics of coagulation and/or fibrinolysis.

The invention provides a passive fluidics circuit for directing different fluids to a common volume, such as a reaction chamber or flow cell, without intermixing or cross contamination. The direction and rate of flow through junctions, nodes and passages of the fluidics circuit are controlled by the states of upstream valves (e.g. opened or closed), differential fluid pressures at circuit inlets or upstream reservoirs, flow path resistances, and the like. Free diffusion or leakage of fluids from unselected inlets into the common outlet or other inlets at junctions or nodes is prevented by the flow of the selected inlet fluid, a portion of which sweeps by the inlets of unselected fluids and exits the fluidics circuit by waste ports, thereby creating a barrier against undesired intermixing with the outlet flow through leakage or diffusion. The invention is particularly advantageous in apparatus for performing sensitive multistep reactions, such as pH-based DNA sequencing reactions.

A microfluidic device comprises at least one inlet for receiving a sample comprising target cells and non-target cells; a first spiral channel portion having an upstream end in a central region and a downstream end in a peripheral region, the upstream end being coupled to the inlet, the first spiral channel portion being configured such that the target cells and the non-target cells occupy different streams at the downstream end; a first waste outlet arranged to couple with streams of non-target cells at the downstream end of the first spiral channel portion; a link channel portion arranged to couple with streams of target cells at the downstream end of the first spiral channel portion; a second spiral channel portion having an upstream end in a peripheral region and a downstream end in a central region, the upstream end of the second channel portion being coupled to the link channel portion, the second spiral channel portion being configured such that the target cells and the non-target cells occupy different streams at the downstream end; a second waste outlet arranged to couple with streams of non-target cells at the downstream end of the second spiral channel portion; and a sample outlet arranged to couple with streams of target cells at the downstream end of the second spiral channel portion.