Method and system for maintaining and analyzing a micro-droplet

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016167052-A1
Application number	US-201514969141-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 15, 2015
Priority date	Dec 15, 2014
Publication date	Jun 16, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A microfluidic system comprises a liquid reservoir containing a liquid and having a capillary pipe opening. The microfluidic system also comprises an elongated bar having a proximal end contacting the liquid reservoir in the opening, a distal section at which a micro-droplet is formed, and a middle section continuously maintaining thereon a liquid bridge between the reservoir and the micro-droplet.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A microfluidic system, comprising:
a liquid reservoir containing a liquid and having a capillary pipe opening; and an elongated bar having a proximal end in said opening, contacting said liquid reservoir, a distal section at which a micro-droplet is formed, and a middle section continuously maintaining thereon a liquid bridge between said reservoir and said micro-droplet.

2 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of said middle and distal sections comprises hydrophilic material for attracting said liquid.

3 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein said elongated bar comprises a distal end and the system comprises an electric source, a first electrode electrically contacting said liquid and a second electrode positioned adjacent to or in contact with said distal end.

4 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of said middle and said distal sections comprises gel material for attracting said liquid.

5 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein said liquid is selected from a group consisting of: organic liquid, water and aqueous solution.

6 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the micro-droplet diameter is less than 100 micron.

7 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein said elongated bar has a generally cylindrical shape body.

8 . The system according to claim 7 , wherein said elongated bar has a radius between about 1 to 25 microns.

9 . A whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonator system, comprising:
a solid support holding a micro-droplet of a liquid substance; a wave coupler delivering an input wave to said micro-droplet to excite a WGM therein; and a wave detector system collecting waves following interaction of said waves with said micro-droplet.

10 . The system according to claim 9 , wherein said input wave is characterized by a wavelength which is equal to a micro-droplet circumference divided by an integer number.

11 . The system according to claim 9 , wherein said input wave is a coherent light beam provided by a laser source.

12 . The system according to claim 9 , wherein said input wave is an acoustic wave generated optically or provided by an acoustic wave source.

13 . The system according to claim 9 , wherein said input wave is a capillary wave generated optically or provided by a capillary wave source.

14 . The system according to claim 9 , wherein said micro-droplet comprises a bio-analyte further comprising at least one biological organism.

15 . The system according to claim 9 , further comprising a signal processor receiving signals pertaining to said interacting wave from said detector, analyzing said signal and providing output characterizing said liquid substance based on said signal.

16 . The system according to claim 15 , wherein said liquid substance comprises a cell and said signal processor providing output differentiating between cancerous and normal cells.

17 . The system according to claim 9 , wherein said micro-droplet comprises a chemo-analyte, further comprising at least one dissolved chemical substance.

18 . The system according to claim 15 , wherein said liquid substance comprises chemical substance and said signal processor providing output indicative of existence or level of said chemical substance in said liquid substance.

19 . The system according to claim 9 , wherein said solid support holds a plurality of micro-droplets comprising at least one biological material.

20 . A method for stabilizing a micro-droplet, comprising:
providing an elongated bar having a proximal end, a distal section, and a middle section between said proximal end and said distal section; and establishing contact between a capillary pipe opening of a liquid reservoir containing a liquid substance and said proximal end, to thereby from micro-droplet on said distal section, and to continuously maintain on an external surface of said middle section a liquid bridge between said reservoir and said micro-droplet.

21 . The method according to claim 20 , further comprising applying electrical field to said elongated bar to form said micro-droplet.

22 . The method according to claim 20 , comprising exciting at least one WGM in said micro-droplet by coupling an input wave to said micro-droplet.

23 . The method according to claim 20 , wherein said wave is an optical wave.

24 . The method according to claim 20 , wherein said wave is an acoustic wave.

25 . The method according to claim 20 , wherein said wave is a capillary wave.

26 . The method according to claim 20 , further comprising receiving a wave interacting with said micro-droplet, analyzing said wave and generating output characterizing said liquid substance based on said analysis.

27 . The method according to claim 26 , wherein said liquid substance comprises a cell and said analysis comprises differentiating between cancerous and normal cells.

28 . The method according to claim 26 , wherein said liquid substance comprises chemical substance and said analysis comprises determining existence or level of said chemical substance in said liquid substance.

29 . The method according to claim 20 , wherein there is a plurality of bars and the method comprises forming on each bar a micro-droplet comprising at least one biological material.

Assignees

• Technion Res & Dev Foundation

Inventors

• Carmon Tal Eliezer
• Rodriguez Leopoldo Luis Martin
• Maayani Shai
• Bar-David Daniel
• Attar Sarah-Tehila

Classifications

• B01L3/502761 Primary

  specially adapted for handling suspended solids or molecules independently from the bulk fluid flow, e.g. for trapping or sorting beads or physically stretching molecules · CPC title

• B01L2300/161

  Control and use of surface tension forces, e.g. hydrophobic, hydrophilic · CPC title

• B01L2200/10

  Integrating sample preparation and analysis in single entity, e.g. lab-on-a-chip concept · CPC title

• B01L2300/0663

  Whole sensors · CPC title

• B01L3/502715

  characterised by interfacing components, e.g. fluidic, electrical, optical or mechanical interfaces · CPC title