Device and method for pressure-driven plug transport and reaction

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9839893-B2
Application number	US-201514836432-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 26, 2015
Priority date	May 9, 2002
Publication date	Dec 12, 2017
Grant date	Dec 12, 2017

Abstract

The present invention provides microfabricated substrates and methods of conducting reactions within these substrates. The reactions occur in plugs transported in the flow of a carrier-fluid.

First claim

We claim:

1. A composition comprising a plurality of plugs, wherein:
each plug comprises an aqueous fluid surrounded by a hydrophobic fluid;
the aqueous fluid of at least one plug comprises a biological reagent;
the hydrophobic fluid of each plug comprises a fluorosurfactant; and
the fluorosurfactant is linked to an oligoethylene glycol (OEG).

2. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the plugs are of substantially identical size.

3. The composition of claim 1 , wherein each plug is between about one femtoliter and about one hundred nanoliters.

4. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the biological reagent is at least one of a cell, a virion, an enzyme, a protein, and a nucleic acid.

5. The composition of claim 1 , wherein at least one plug comprises a reactant for an autocatalytic reaction.

6. The composition of claim 5 , wherein the autocatalytic reaction is a polymerase-chain reaction (PCR).

7. The composition of claim 6 , wherein at least one plug comprises a single biological reagent.

8. The composition of claim 7 , wherein the single biological reagent is DNA or RNA.

9. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the fluorosurfactant comprises a hydrophilic head.

10. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the oligoethylene glycol is linked to a terminal end of the fluorosurfactant.

11. The composition of claim 10 , wherein the fluorosurfactant is of the formula:

wherein m is 0, 3, 4, 5, or 6; and n is an integer of no less than 16.

12. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the hydrophobic fluid is fluorinated.

13. The composition of claim 12 , wherein the hydrophobic fluid is perfluorinated.

14. The composition of claim 12 , wherein the hydrophobic fluid is selected from the group consisting of perfluorohexane, perfluoro(methylcyclohexane), perfluoro(1,3-dimethylcyclohexane), perfluorodecaline, perfluoroperhydrofluorene, perfluoroperhydrophenanthrene, perfluorotoluene, hexafluorobenzene, a fluorinert liquid, and combinations thereof.

15. The composition of claim 12 , wherein the hydrophobic fluid comprises a mixture of fluorinated substances of different viscosity.

Assignees

• Univ Chicago

Inventors

• Ismagilov Rustem F
• Tice Joshua David
• Song Helen
• Roach Lewis Spencer

Classifications

• B01J2219/00783

  Laminate assemblies, i.e. the reactor comprising a stack of plates · CPC title

• B01L2300/0867

  Multiple inlets and one sample wells, e.g. mixing, dilution · CPC title

• Y10T436/118339

  with formation of a segmented stream · CPC title

• B01J2219/00837

  comprising coatings other than catalytically active coatings · CPC title

• G01N35/085

  Flow Injection Analysis · CPC title