There are provided methods for quantifying an analyte in a sample, diagnosing a condition characterized by an excess or a depletion of an analyte in a biological sample, isolating analyte from a sample, and detecting an analyte in a sample. These method comprise the steps of providing a colloidal suspension of nanoparticles of a plasmonic metal, the nanoparticles having attached on their surface a binding moiety for selective attachment of said analyte and adding the sample to the suspension, thus producing a mixture in which said analyte is attached to the nanoparticles in suspension. Then, the methods further comprise the steps of either allowing sedimentation of the nanoparticles with bound analyte, thereby producing a sediment comprising the nanoparticles with bound analyte and a supernatant, and measuring the Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) spectrum of the supernatant and/or recovering the sediment, or measuring the Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) spectrum of the mixture.

A blood sample collection and/or storage device includes a two-piece housing that encompasses a port at which a fingertip blood sample is collected. After the sample is taken, the two-piece housing is moved to a closed position to protect the sample for storage and optionally process the sample.

An anti-pollution test device and a method for rapid test of nucleic acid amplifications, and a use. The anti-pollution test device includes a test portion and a mixing reaction chamber, where the mixing reaction chamber includes: a reaction chamber body, a reaction chamber cover, a channel and a mixing reaction portion. The test portion includes a test inner core, a test kit, a transparent observation window, a flow guide device, and the flow guide device including: a flow guide tube and a flow guide component. One end of the flow guide component is connected to the flow guide tube, one end of the flow guide component is connected to the test inner core, to guide a mixed solution of a hybridization solution and a sample to the test inner core. The test inner core displays a final test result in an area corresponding to the transparent observation window.

Disclosed herein are devices and methods for contacting a tissue sample with liquids to perform a variety of processes and analyses. In various embodiments, the device includes a hydrophilic flow path defined at least in part by a surface pattern (e.g., bounded by hydrophobic regions). The flow path includes a sample area sized to receive a biological sample. The flow path includes at least one valve configured to control flow in the flow path in response to an external stimulus.

Fluidic multiwell bioreactors are provided as a microphysiological platform for in vitro investigation of multi-organ crosstalks for an extended period of time of at least weeks and months. The disclosed platform is featured with one or more improvements over existing bioreactors, including on-board pumping for pneumatically driven fluid flow, a redesigned spillway for self-leveling from source to sink, a non-contact built-in fluid level sensing device, precise control on fluid flow profile and partitioning, and facile reconfigurations such as daisy chaining and multilayer stacking. The platform supports the culture of multiple organs in a microphysiological, interacted systems, suitable for a wide range of biomedical applications including systemic toxicity studies and physiology-based pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic predictions. A process to fabricate the disclosed bioreactors is also provided.

A microfluidic apparatus is provided having one or more sequestration pens configured to isolate one or more target micro-objects by changing the orientation of the microfluidic apparatus with respect to a globally active force, such as gravity. Methods of selectively directing the movements of micro-objects in such a microfluidic apparatus using gravitational forces are also provided. The micro-objects can be biological micro-objects, such as cells, or inanimate micro-objects, such as beads.

A gravity flow micro-physiological article determines a physiological response to a drug and includes: supply chambers; a mixing chamber; and a liquid divider, wherein the divider divides fluid under gravitational force so that individual portions of the fluid independently include metabolites in a proportionate amount as physically determined by the liquid divider.

A method for analyzing biological samples is disclosed herein. In an embodiment, the method includes receiving a fluid sample into a cartridge device, which comprises: a fluidic chamber; at least one microfluidic channel in fluid communication with the fluidic chamber; and a venting port configured to apply a pneumatic force to the fluidic chamber; and inserting the cartridge device into a reader device to perform measurements, wherein the cartridge device is positioned in a vertical or tilted position such that at least a portion of the fluid sample inside the fluidic chamber is pulled by gravity in a direction away from the venting port or towards the bottom of the fluidic chamber.

A new method is disclosed for extracting plasma from whole blood and metering the amount of plasma to an exact volume for dispensing into a diagnostic test, in a fully automatic and self-contained device. The device can be used in resource limited settings by unskilled users to facilitate sophisticated medical diagnostic testing outside of a hospital, clinic or laboratory.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a liquid handling method that makes it possible to simply isolate a droplet, a fluid handling device used in this method, and a fluid handling system. This fluid handling method serves to flow a fluid including a solvent and a droplet through a fluid handling device comprising an inlet, a first flow path having one end connected to the inlet, a chamber connected to the other end of the first flow path, a second flow path having one end connected to the chamber, and an outlet connected to the other end of the second flow path. This fluid handling method includes an introduction step for introducing the fluid through the inlet and accommodating the droplet in the chamber, a rotation step for rotating the fluid handling device after the introduction step, and a removal step for removing the droplet from the inside of the chamber after the rotation step. In the introduction step, the fluid handling device is disposed such that the chamber widens from the position where the chamber and the second flow path are connected in the direction opposite from the direction of gravity.