The invention describes a method for isolating one or more genetic elements encoding a gene product having a desired activity, comprising the steps of: (a) compartmentalising genetic elements into microcapsules; and (b) sorting the genetic elements which express the gene product having the desired activity; wherein at least one step is under microfluidic control. The invention enables the in vitro evolution of nucleic acids and proteins by repeated mutagenesis and iterative applications of the method of the invention.

The present invention relates to a cluster for the detection of an analyte, said cluster comprising a plurality of visually detectable colored particles and a plurality of luminescent particles, wherein (i) the particles are bound to each other, and (ii) at least one binding partner of an analyte is bound to the colored particles and/or the luminescent particles.

Provided herein are automated apparatus for the identification of microorganisms in various samples. The disclosure solves existing challenges encountered in identifying and distinguishing various types of microorganisms, including viruses and bacteria in a timely, efficient, and automated manner by sequencing.

The invention provides particle compositions having applications in nucleic acid analysis. Nucleic acid polymer particles of the invention allow polynucleotides to be attached throughout their volumes for higher loading capacities than those achievable solely with surface attachment. In one aspect, nucleic acid polymer particles of the invention comprise polyacrylamide particles with uniform size distributions having low coefficients of variations, which result in reduced particle-to-particle variation in analytical assays. Such particle compositions are used in various amplification reactions to make amplicon libraries from nucleic acid fragment libraries.

An example of a flow cell includes a substrate, a plurality of chambers defined on or in the substrate, and a plurality of depressions defined in the substrate and within a perimeter of each of the plurality of chambers. The depressions are separated by interstitial regions. Primers are attached within each of the plurality of depressions, and a capture site is located within each of the plurality of chambers.

Provided herein are methods that comprise providing polymer chains comprising a plurality of reactive groups onto the surface of beads and covalent attachment of functionalized biomolecules, such as primers.

There is disclosed a process for in vitro synthesis and assembly of long, gene-length polynucleotides based upon assembly of multiple shorter oligonucleotides synthesized in situ on a microarray platform. Specifically, there is disclosed a process for in situ synthesis of oligonucleotide fragments on a solid phase microarray platform and subsequent, on device assembly of larger polynucleotides composed of a plurality of shorter oligonucleotide fragments.

The disclosure generally relates to compositions and methods for the production of nucleic acid molecules. In some aspects, the invention allows for the microscale generation of nucleic acid molecules, optionally followed by assembly of these nucleic acid molecules into larger molecules. In some aspects, the invention allows for efficient production of nucleic acid molecules (e.g., large nucleic acid molecules such as genomes).

The present invention relates to methods for detecting polymeric analytes, especially biopolymers, and sensors for detecting the polymeric analytes. The present invention uses magnetic beads in a rotating magnetic field to provide a visual detection of the presence of a polymeric analyte, such as nucleic acids, lipids, polysaccharides, proteins, etc. When a polymeric analyte binds to the magnetic beads, application of a rotating magnetic field to the beads results in unique pinwheel formations. Without the presence of the polymeric analyte, the movement of the magnetic beads induced by the rotating magnetic field differs significantly from the pinwheel formations. The pinwheel, therefore, is used to detect the presence of polymeric analytes.

This disclosure provides a gene chip comprising a substrate and at least one positioning device fixed on an upper surface of the substrate, wherein the at least one positioning device is provided with a receiving cavity for receiving a bead, the receiving cavity being arranged on a surface of the at least one positioning device facing away from the substrate, and a cross-sectional area of the receiving cavity is gradually decreased in a direction toward the upper surface of the substrate. This disclosure further provides a gene detection device comprising the gene chip.