The inventive subject matter provides an apparatus for reproducibly fabricating hydrogel-based organ and tumor models inside multi-well plates. For example, tumor models made using the inventive apparatus can be used for studying the progression of cancer, cancer diagnostics, and therapeutic screening. A mold controls the thickness of each hydrogel layer. A photomask controls the size and shape of each hydrogel layer, allowing the hydrogel diameter to be smaller than the diameter of each well so that liquid media can be exchanged around both the sides and top of the hydrogels. A holder aligns the photomask with the multi-well plate, and polymerization is initiated by a light source.

The present invention relates to a technique for genomic library screening and provides a method for separating, capturing, analyzing, and retrieving cells and cell products by using a microstructure that can be preferentially applied to the field of antibody engineering for the development of new therapeutic antibodies and can be extensively applied to multiple genetic/phenotypic analysis of various biochemical molecules, for example, in the field of protein engineering and metabolic engineering.

An example of a flow cell includes a substrate; a plurality of reactive regions extending along the substrate; and a non-reactive region separating one of the plurality of reactive regions from an adjacent one of the plurality of reactive regions. Each of the plurality of reactive regions includes alternating first and second areas positioned along the reactive region. Each of the first areas includes a first primer set and each of the second areas includes a second primer set that is different than the first primer set. Either adjacent first and second areas directly abut each other, or) the first areas are positioned on protrusions and the second areas are positioned in depressions adjacent to the protrusions.

In an example of a method for making a flow cell, a metal material is sputtered over a transparent substrate including depressions separated by interstitial regions to form a metal film having a first thickness over the interstitial regions and having a second thickness over the depressions, the second thickness being about 30 nm or less and being at least ⅓ times smaller than the first thickness. A light sensitive material is deposited over the metal film; and the metal film is used to develop the light sensitive material through the transparent substrate to define an altered light sensitive material at a first predetermined region over the transparent substrate. The altered light sensitive material is utilized to generate a functionalized layer at the first predetermined region or at a second predetermined region over the transparent substrate.

An example of an array includes a support including a plurality of discrete wells, a gel material positioned in each of the discrete wells, a sequencing primer grafted to the gel material, and a non-sequencing entity grafted to the gel material. Each of the sequencing primer and the non-sequencing entity is in its as-grafted form.

The disclosure provides three-dimensional crosslinked polymer networks comprising one or more channels extending from the surface and/or near the surface of the network into the interior of the network, arrays comprising the networks, processes for making the networks, and uses of the networks and arrays.

The inventive concepts disclosed herein are generally directed to a sensor array device that has a prolonged shelf life but requires only a minimal amount of sample volume in order to test two or more analytes concurrently. In order to ensure the sensor array has a sufficient shelf life, anti-diffusion regions are positioned among the reaction wells in order to slow the processes of diffusion. The use of anti-diffusion regions, as described herein, can be used to optimize the number of sensors that can be fit into a sensor array designed for reduced sample liquid volumes (e.g., less than 100 μL) as well as extending the test strip's shelf life.

Three-dimensional cellular arrays, methods of making three-dimensional cellular arrays, and methods of identifying agents using the arrays are disclosed.

A porous matrix according to the present disclosure, wherein a nucleic acid primer-carbon material composite in which one or more nucleic acid primer of a forward primer and a reverse primer as a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primer is bound to a carbon material is included in the pores of the matrix, provides improved amplification efficiency as compared to a matrix wherein the nucleic acid primer is present on the outer surface of the matrix or a porous matrix wherein the nucleic acid primer is directly fixed inside pores. The porous matrix of the present disclosure can effectively detect various kinds of target nucleic acids simultaneously and analyze them in real time by varying the kinds of the nucleic acid primers included in the matrix. Therefore, it is useful in amplifying multiple nucleic acids.

Embodiments of the present application relate to patterned polymer sheets and processes to prepare the same for sequencing applications. In particular, flexible micro- and nano-patterned polymer sheets are prepared and used as a template surface in sequencing reaction and new polish-free methods of forming isolated hydrogel plugs in nanowells are described.