An apparatus for gene amplification includes a gene amplification chip including a well configured to accept a sample that is loaded into the well; the gene amplification chip being configured to: thermally dissolve the sample in the well so that a microbe present in the sample is thermally dissolved in the well to release genes in the microbe; and amplify the released genes in the well. The apparatus for gene amplification also includes a temperature controller configured to control a thermal dissolution temperature and a gene amplification temperature of the well.

An assay repository device for photothermal or joule heating includes an assay container having an interior surface and being configured to house an assay solution, and a nanostructure layer conformally integrated onto the assay container and directly contacting the interior surface, the nanostructure layer being plasmonic and thermally conductive, and including a plurality of nanofeatures having non-uniform sizes and/or non-uniform shapes.

Methods for selectively adding one or more reagents are provided. In certain aspects, the methods include selectively merging one or more droplets of a plurality of droplets with one or more droplets of a plurality of reagent droplets based on detection of a property. Systems, devices and kits for practicing the subject methods are also provided. The subject disclosure may find use in a wide variety of applications, such as increasing the accuracy and/or efficiency of single-cell sequencing, detection of cancer or other diseases, monitoring disease progression, analyzing the DNA or RNA content of cells, and other applications in which it is desired to detect and/or quantify specific target cells.

The purpose of the present invention is to collect a plurality of microscopic objects dispersed in a liquid by light irradiation, and also trap them. A collecting device for bacteria collects a plurality of bacteria dispersed in a sample liquid. The collecting device is provided with a laser beam source that emits laser beam and a honeycomb polymer film constituted so as to be able to hold the liquid. Walls prescribing pores for trapping the plurality of bacteria dispersed in the liquid are formed on the honeycomb polymer film, and also a thin film that includes a material for converting light from the laser beam source to heat is formed on the honeycomb polymer film. The thin film heats the liquid of the sample through the conversion of the laser beam from the laser beam source to heat, thereby causing a convection in the liquid.

This disclosure describes various reaction vessel configurations that include a housing component; a reaction chamber defined by the housing component; and a light absorbing layer conforming to a portion of an interior-facing surface of the housing component that defines the reaction chamber, the light absorbing layer comprising multiple discrete regions. An energy source may direct light at one or more of the discrete regions of the light absorbing layer so as to heat the discrete regions and ultimately heat a solution within a reaction chamber.

Digital microfluidic (DMF) apparatuses and methods for optically-induced heating and manipulating droplets are described herein. DMF apparatuses employing photonic heating as described herein provide radical simplification of routing droplets/reagents in complex, multistep protocols and/or highly plexed workflows.

A microfabricated droplet dispensing structure is described, which may include a MEMS microfluidic fluidic valve, configured to open and close a microfluidic channel. The opening and closing of the valve may separate a target biological particle containing genomic material, and a bead from a sample stream, and direct these two particle into a single droplet formed at the edge of the substrate. The droplet may then be encased in a sheath flow of an immiscible fluid, and provided to a downstream workflow.

A cover member for a substrate supporting a biological sample comprises first and second opposing ends, first and second opposing surfaces, a void in the second surface which, when juxtaposed with a substrate, forms a chamber, and a fluid inlet toward the first end and in fluid communication with the void. The void is bounded by void walls having one or more contoured regions for enhancing fluid movement within the chamber. A treatment module for a biological sample comprises the cover member, a support surface for a substrate bearing the biological sample and clamp means operable to releasably retain the cover member in juxtaposition with the substrate for an incubation period. A method for incubating the biological sample with one or more reagents uses the cover member.

The invention relates to a system (10) for the amplification of a nucleic acid (22), comprising at least one local heating element (12), which is functionalized with at least one connection nucleic acid (14), and at least one primer nucleic acid (16), which is adapted to bind to the at least one connection nucleic acid (14) and to bind to the nucleic acid (22), and/or at least one primer complementary nucleic acid (30), which is adapted to bind to the at least one connection nucleic acid (14) and to elongate the connection nucleic acid (14) by a primer nucleotide sequence by means of an enzymatic reaction. Furthermore, the invention relates to a primer nucleic acid (16), a primer complementary nucleic acid (30), a local heating element (12) and a method for the amplification of a nucleic acid (22).

Embodiments include a reaction vessel having a reaction chamber defined by opposing first and second interior-facing surfaces of the housing; a first light absorbing layer conforming to the first interior-facing surface of the housing component; and a second light absorbing layer conforming to the second interior-facing surface of the housing component; a first energy source configured to direct light through the housing at the first light absorbing layer; and a second energy source configured to direct light through the housing at the second light absorbing layer.