Sample carrier device incorporating radio frequency identification, and method

• US 20050242963A1
• Filed: 03/22/2005
• Published: 11/03/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Applied Biosystems LLC (Thermo Fisher Scientific Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Applera Corporation (Thermo Fisher Scientific Incorporated)
• Inventors: Morris, Richard D., Oldham, Mark F., Mack, Jerome A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,382,258 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/572.800
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2300/022 Transponder chips
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 3/5027 by integrated microfluidic structures, i.e. dimensions of channels and chambers are such that surface tension forces are important, e.g. lab-on-a-chip B01L3/5023 takes precedence; micromixers B01F33/30; microreactors for synthesis B01J19/0093; microcapillary devices in general B81B1/00
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 3/5082 Test tubes per se
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 3/5085 for multiple samples, e.g. microtitration plates
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 3/545 for laboratory containers
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 9/06 Test-tube stands; Test-tube holders
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2001/021 Correlating sampling sites with geographical information, e.g. GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2035/00782 reprogrammmable code
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2035/00801 Holders for sample carriers, e.g. trays, caroussel, racks
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2035/00821 nature of coded information
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 35/00732 Identification of carriers, materials or components in automatic analysers
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 35/00871 Communications between instruments or with remote terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

An apparatus for associating information with a carrier and/or at least one biological reagent is provided. The apparatus can include a carrier adapted to retain at least one biological reagent and at least one non-silicon Radio Frequency Identification Tag (RFID). The RFID tag can comprise information in the form of an information pointer that can be resolved by an information pointer resolution device. The information pointer and/or resolution device can be used to access a remote system. The carrier can be configured, for example, as a microfluidic processing device or a multi-well plate. Methods and systems using the apparatus are also provided.

Claims

1. An apparatus for associating information with a biological reagent carrier, the apparatus comprising:

a carrier adapted to retain at least one biological reagent; and

at least one non-silicon radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag comprising a memory and an RFID antenna, and being coupled to the carrier.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one non-silicon RFID tag comprises at least one organic RFID tag.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one non-silicon RFID tag comprises at least one polymer RFID tag comprising a metal dopant and a polymeric material.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one non-silicon RFID tag comprises a read-write memory.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the carrier comprises at least one of a reaction plate, a tube for holding a plurality of tubes, a tube carrier, a surface plasmon resonance array, a slide, a conical low-volume tube, a microfluidic card, a microarray cartridge, a microarray, a sample preparation device, an assay preparation device, an electrophoretic type device, an electroosmotic type device, a immunoassay, a combinatorial library, a molecular library, a phage display library, a DNA library, a DNA fingerprinting device, a single nucleotide polymorphism detection device, a vacuum container, and other types of containers for supporting biological reagents, a microfluidic card device, a multi-well plate, or a combination thereof.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the carrier comprises at least one biological reagent retained thereby, and the at least one non-silicon RFID tag comprises, stored therein, at least one of identifying information pertaining to the at least one biological reagent, supplemental information pertaining to the at least one biological reagent, rights information pertaining to the at least one biological reagent, license information pertaining to the at least one biological reagent, instrument operation information pertaining to the at least one biological reagent, identification information pertaining to the apparatus, supplemental information pertaining to the apparatus, rights information pertaining to the apparatus, instrument operation information pertaining to the apparatus, license information pertaining to the apparatus, or a combination thereof.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one non-silicon RFID tag comprises a memory adapted to store at least 1 kilobyte of information.

8. A system comprising:

the apparatus of claim 1;

an instrument RFID reader for reading the at least one non-silicon RFID tag; and

at least one output interface coupled to the instrument RFID reader and adapted to output information from the at least one non-silicon RFID tag.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one output interface comprises a wired network port, a wireless network port, a computer bus, a universal serial bus port, a serial port, a parallel port, an IEEE-1384 port, an infrared port, a transmitter, or a combination thereof.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one non-silicon RFID tag comprises a power source adapted to convert blood pressure changes from a mammal into electrical energy adapted to energize the at least one non-silicon RFID tag.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one non-silicon RFID tag comprises a power source comprising an electric transducer to energize the at least one non-silicon RFID tag.

12. An apparatus for associating information with a biological reagent carrier, the apparatus comprising:

a carrier for retaining at least one biological reagent; and

at least one write-once information media, wherein the at least one write-once information media is coupled to the carrier.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least one write-once information media comprises one or more of a self-identifying integrated circuit (SIDIC) or a printed code.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least one write-once information media comprises information pertaining to at least one biological reagent.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least one write-once information media is immutable after a first imprinting of the information.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein further comprising a power-supply adapted to convert a transmission of electromagnetic energy to electrical current and adapted to power the at least one write-once information media.

17. A system for associating information with a biological reagent carrier, the system comprising:

a carrier adapted to retain a biological reagent;

an RFID tag coupled to the carrier and operable to be read by an RFID reader, wherein the RFID tag comprises identification information; and

an information pointer resolution device is adapted to reference information pertaining to the RFID tag, wherein the information is not resident on the RFID tag.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the information pointer resolution device comprises an information pointer, and the information pointer resolution device is adapted to resolve the information pointer to obtain the information.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein RFID tag comprises a information pointer, and the information pointer resolution device is adapted to resolve the information pointer to obtain the information.

20. The system of claim 17, further comprising at least one biological instrument for performing operations on at least one biological reagent retained by the carrier, wherein the at least one biological instrument uses the information.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the information pointer comprises one or more of a Uniform Resource Indicator (URI), a Uniform Resource Name (URN), a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), a network service address, an internet protocol (IP) address and an IP port, an inter-process communication (IPC) identifier, and any combination thereof.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the RFID tag further comprises permission control information for a remote system to obtain access to the system.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein the RFID tag further comprises permission control information for the information pointer resolution device to obtain access to a remote system.

24. The system of claim 17, wherein the information pointer resolution device is adapted to access a log adapted to store or reference information output by the system.

25. The system of claim 17, wherein the information pointer resolution device is adapted to access a database.

26. The system of claim 17, wherein the information pointer resolution device comprises a wired network port, a wireless network port, a computer bus, a universal serial bus port, a serial port, a parallel port, an IEEE- 1384 port, an infrared port, a transmitter, or a combination thereof.

27. The system of claim 18, further comprising an automated system that is adapted to transport the carrier to at least one of the at least one biological instrument or the RFID reader.

28. The system of claim 18, further comprising a biological instrument controller comprising a general purpose computer, the general purpose computer coupled to the biological instrument via a data network connection that is operable to carry instrument operation information back and forth between the general purpose computer and the biological instrument.

29. An apparatus for associating information with a biological reagent carrier, the apparatus comprising:

a carrier adapted to retain at least one biological reagent; and

at least one RFID tag coupled to the carrier, wherein each RFID tag of the at least one RFID tag comprises an RFID antenna and a memory, wherein the memory comprises information stored or referenced in the form of a log detailing a chronicle of the apparatus.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the carrier is adapted to perform an assay on a sample comprising a bodily fluid.

31. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the carrier comprises at least one biological reagent retained by the carrier, and the log comprises results of an assay performed using the at least one biological reagent.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the carrier comprises at least one biological reagent retained by the carrier, and the log comprises information pertaining to the at least one biological reagent.

33. A system comprising the apparatus of claim 29 and a database, wherein the log is stored in the database.

34. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the log comprises information about at least one of an initial patient sample, a patient biography, a patient medical history, a history of apparatus transfers, a chain of custody for the apparatus, a history of purifications, a history of reactions performed using the biological reagent, a user'"'"'s notes, a born-on date, a manufacturing date, an expiration date, a list of user'"'"'s who have manipulated the apparatus, an experiment performed with a biological reagent, a result of an experiment performed with a biological reagent, permission control information for reading and writing to a log, or a combination thereof.

35. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the log is an append-only log.

36. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the carrier comprises a substrate including a surface, and a separation channel formed in or on the surface.

37. A method for associating information with a carrier, the method comprising:

providing a carrier adapted to retain at least one biological reagent, the carrier being coupled to a non-silicon RFID tag, wherein the non-silicon RFID tag is operable to be read by an RFID reader; and

receiving, from the non-silicon RFID tag, identification information associated with the carrier.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the non-silicon RFID tag comprises reagent information stored therein pertaining to at least one biological reagent, and the method further comprises receiving, from the non-silicon RFID tag, the reagent information.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein the reagent information comprises real-time physical location coordinates associated with the at least one biological reagent.

40. The method of claim 37, further comprising storing in the non-silicon RFID tag information pertaining to at least one identification information pertaining to a biological reagent, supplemental information pertaining to a biological reagent, rights information pertaining to a biological reagent, license information pertaining to a biological reagent, instrument operation information pertaining to a biological reagent, identification information pertaining to the apparatus, supplemental information pertaining to the apparatus, rights information pertaining to the apparatus, instrument operation information pertaining to the apparatus, license information pertaining to the apparatus, or a combination thereof.

41. A method for associating information with a carrier, the method comprising:

providing a carrier adapted to retain at least one biological reagent, the carrier being coupled to an RFID tag, wherein the RFID tag is operable to be read by an RFID reader;

receiving, from the RFID tag, an information pointer; and

resolving the information pointer into information associated with the carrier.

42. The method of claim 41, further comprising storing in the RFID tag permission control information pertaining to the carrier.

43. The method of claim 41, wherein the carrier retains at least one biological reagent, and the method further comprises storing information pertaining to the at least one biological reagent by writing a chronicle using the information pointer, while or after the at least one biological reagent is utilized in a biological assay.

44. The method of claim 41, further comprising storing chain of custody information regarding the carrier.

45. The method of claim 41, wherein the carrier retains at least one biological reagent, and the method further comprises genealogical information pertaining to the at least one biological reagent.

46. The method of claim 41, further comprising authorizing under terms of a license, use of the carrier.

47. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

receiving license identifier information from the information;

authenticating the license identifier information; and

based on the authenticated license identifier information, permitting the performance of at least one licensed activity in connection with the carrier.

48. The method of claim 41, further comprising validating integrity of the carrier for use in connection with a specific biological assay.