Apparatus and method for integrated sample preparation, reaction and detection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9931636-B2
Application number	US-201514974382-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 18, 2015
Priority date	Feb 23, 2010
Publication date	Apr 3, 2018
Grant date	Apr 3, 2018

Abstract

An apparatus includes a housing, a reaction vial and a transfer mechanism. The housing defines a first flow path and a second flow path. The housing has transfer port defining an opening in fluid communication with the second flow path and a volume outside of the housing. The transfer port includes a flow control member to limit flow through the opening. The reaction vial is coupled to the housing and defines a reaction volume, which is in fluid communication with the transfer port via the second flow path. The transfer mechanism is configured to transfer a sample from an isolation chamber of an isolation module to the reaction chamber via at least the first flow path when the transfer mechanism is actuated. The transfer mechanism configured to produce a vacuum in the reaction vial to produce a flow of a sample from the isolation chamber to the reaction volume.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus, comprising:
a housing defining a linear flow path;
a reaction vial coupled to the housing, the reaction vial defining a reaction volume, the reaction volume in fluid communication with the linear flow path, wherein the reaction vial comprises a lyophilized substance comprising PCR reagents;
a transfer mechanism configured to transfer a sample from the reaction vial into the linear flow path when the transfer mechanism is actuated; and
a plurality of movable members movably coupled to the housing, the plurality of movable members configured to separate the linear flow path into a plurality of PCR volumes, each PCR volume from the plurality of PCR volumes being fluidically isolated from an adjacent PCR volume from the plurality of PCR volumes.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each movable member from the plurality of movable members is configured to move between a first position and a second position, the plurality of movable members configured to separate the linear flow path into a plurality of PCR volumes when the plurality of movable members is in the second position.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the linear flow path is a first flow path;
the transfer mechanism is a first transfer mechanism; and
the housing defines a second flow path, the housing configured to be coupled to an isolation module such that the sample can be conveyed from an isolation chamber of the isolation module to the reaction volume via the second flow path when a second transfer mechanism is actuated.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a first movable member from the plurality of movable members is configured to move between a first position and a second position independently from the movement of a second movable member from the plurality of movable members.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein each PCR volume is approximately 20 microliters.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein each PCR volume is between approximately 500 nL and approximately 10 microliters.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein each PCR volume is between approximately 500 nL and approximately 5 microliters.

8. A method, comprising:
using an apparatus comprising:
a housing defining a linear flow path;
a reaction vial coupled to the housing, the reaction vial defining a reaction volume, the reaction volume in fluid communication with the linear flow path, wherein the reaction vial comprises a lyophilized substance comprising PCR reagents;
a transfer mechanism configured to transfer a sample from the reaction vial into the linear flow path when the transfer mechanism is actuated; and
a plurality of movable members movably coupled to the housing, the plurality of movable members configured to separate the linear flow path into a plurality of PCR volumes, each PCR volume from the plurality of PCR volumes being fluidically isolated from an adjacent PCR volume from the plurality of PCR volumes;

conveying the sample from the reaction volume into the linear flow path defined by the housing, the sample including a plurality of target nucleic acid molecules;
moving the plurality of movable members to divide the linear flow path into the plurality of PCR volumes such that each PCR volume from the plurality of PCR volumes includes no more than one target nucleic acid molecule from the plurality of target nucleic acid molecules; and
activating a heating element to thermally cycle the contents of each PCR volume from the plurality of PCR volumes.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the moving includes moving a first movable member from the plurality of movable members at a different time than moving a second movable member from the plurality of movable members.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
heating the sample within the reaction volume before the conveying.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein each PCR volume is approximately 20 microliters.

12. The method of claim 8 wherein each PCR volume is between approximately 500 nL and approximately 10 microliters.

13. The method of claim 8 wherein each PCR volume is between approximately 500 nL and approximately 5 microliters.

Assignees

• Luminex Corp

Inventors

• Ching Jesus
• Lee Phillip You Fai
• Richardson Bruce

Classifications

• B01F2015/0221

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B01L7/525 Primary

  with physical movement of samples between temperature zones · CPC title

• B01L2300/0867

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

• B01L2200/026

  Fluid interfacing between devices or objects, e.g. connectors, inlet details · CPC title

• B01L2300/0672

  Integrated piercing tool · CPC title