Methods and devices for liquid-liquid extraction using digital microfluidic arrays are provided. A polar droplet is transported to a separation region containing a substantially non-polar solvent, where non-polar impurities may be extracted from the polar droplet while maintaining a distinct phase separation. In a preferred embodiment, biological samples containing hormones are dried on a digital microfluidic array, lysed by a lysing solvent, dried, subsequently dissolved in a polar solvent, and further purified in a separation step in which droplets are transported through a volume of non-polar solvent. The method disclosed herein provides the distinct advantage of an automated sample preparation method that is capable of extracting hormones from low sample volumes with high precision and recovery.

The present invention provides a droplet generator. The droplet generator includes a large-corner continuous U-shaped flow channel on the encoded microsphere flow channel. Controlling the turning radius of the continuous U-shaped flow channel prevents the blockage resulted from accumulation of microfibers in the encoded microsphere suspension at the turn of the continuous U-shaped flow channel. A buffer tank is arranged at the encoded microsphere flow channel, which is used for the pre-arrangement of the encoded microspheres, to increase the controllability of the flow rate of the encoded microspheres. The buffer tank is provided in the oil-phase flow channel to prevent the oil phase from infiltrating into the aqueous phase due to excessive flow rate, and increase the controllability of the oil phase flow rate. The droplet generator has simple structure, low cost, high-throughput, and high-stability, and may be used to prepare single-cell single-encoded microsphere droplets.

Provided are embodiments for a computer-implemented method, system, and device for tracking multiphase flow in a microfluidic device. Embodiments include receiving first readings from a first sensor of the microfluidic device, the first reading representing a detection of a fluid at an interface between the fluid and the first sensor, and receiving second readings from a second sensor of the microfluidic device, the second readings representing a detection of the fluid at an interface between the fluid and the second sensor, wherein the first sensor is located at a distance from the second sensor. Embodiments also include calculating a flow speed of the fluid in the microfluidic device based at least in part on a difference of time between the detections by the first sensor and the second sensor, and the distance between the first sensor and the second sensor.

The present invention relates to a method for analyzing and selecting a specific droplet among a plurality of droplets (4), comprising the following steps: —providing a plurality of droplets (4), —for a droplet (4) among the plurality of droplets, measuring at least two optical signals, each optical signal being representative of a light intensity spatial distribution in the droplet for an associated wavelength channel, —calculating a plurality of parameters from the optical signals, —determining a sorting class for a droplet according to calculated parameters, —sorting said droplet according to its sorting class, wherein the plurality of parameters comprises the coordinates of a maximum for each optical signal and a co-localization parameter and the at least two calculated parameters used for the determining step comprises the co-localization parameter.

A method measuring the phase transition characteristics of a macromolecule, the method comprising: generating a stream of micro-droplets comprising at least one constituent, of which one constituent comprises the macromolecule, varying the conditions in the micro-droplets; and measuring the relative concentrations of the constituents of, and the phases of the macromolecule present in, the micro-droplets.

The present disclosure provides a microchannel device including a base having a defining surface that defines a flow channel and containing silicone, in which the defining surface of the base includes a region in which a surfactant is adsorbed, and a ratio of an amount of secondary ions of the surfactant adsorbed on the defining surface of the base to a total amount of ions detected by time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry is 0.01 or more, and provides a use application thereof.

Disclosed are devices and methods useful for confined-channel digital microfluidics that combine high-throughput droplet generators with digital microfluidic for droplet manipulation. The present disclosure also provides an off-chip sensing system for droplet tracking.

A method for collecting and delivering biological samples to a destination, such as an analyzer are provided herein. In one example, a plurality of samples, each including particles, is obtained from respective wells of a sample source having a plurality of wells. The plurality of samples are introduced into a fluid flow stream contained within a conduit having an inner diameter and in communication with a destination. An inner surface of the conduit is coated with a hydrogel barrier substance, such as poly-HEMA. The fluid flow stream is guided through the conduit to a destination. In one example, the destination may be a flow cytometer. Methods of preparing a poly-HEMA solution and coating the inner surface of a conduit with poly-HEMA are also provided.

The invention describes a method for the synthesis of compounds comprising the steps of: (a) compartmentalising two or more sets of primary compounds into microcapsules; such that a proportion of the microcapsules contains two or more compounds; and (b) forming secondary compounds in the microcapsules by chemical reactions between primary compounds from different sets; wherein one or both of steps (a) and (b) is performed under microfluidic control; preferably electronic microfluidic control, The invention further allows for the identification of compounds which bind to a target component of a biochemical system or modulate the activity of the target, and which is co-compartmentalised into the microcapsules.

The present invention is generally related to systems and methods for producing droplets. The droplets may contain varying species, e.g., for use as a library. In some cases, at least one droplet is used to create a plurality of droplets, using techniques such as flow-focusing techniques. In one set of embodiments, a plurality of droplets, containing varying species, can be divided to form a collection of droplets containing the various species therein. A collection of droplets, according to certain embodiments, may contain various subpopulations of droplets that all contain the same species therein. Such a collection of droplets may be used as a library in some cases, or may be used for other purposes.