Reaction vessel with integrated optical and fluid control elements

• US 20080286858A1
• Filed: 05/16/2008
• Published: 11/20/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Angle Europe Limited (ANGLE Plc)
• Original Assignee: Axela Inc.
• Inventors: Liederman, Adam Brian, Ganske, Rocky, Cracauer, Raymond Francis
• Granted Patent: US 8,003,060 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 435/288.7
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2200/04 Exchange or ejection of cartridges, containers or reservoirs
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2200/16 Reagents, handling or storing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2300/022 Transponder chips
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2300/0809 rectangular shaped
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2400/0478 pistons
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 3/502 with fluid transport, e.g. in multi-compartment structures centrifugal-type cuvettes G01N21/07; analysis by separation into components G01N30/00; automatic analysers G01N35/00

Abstract

The present invention provides disposable, semi-reusable, or single use reaction vessels with integrated optical elements for use with diffraction based assay systems. The vessel for assaying liquids for analytes includes a housing having at least one chamber or well for receiving a liquid therein and an optical element integrally formed with the housing for directing an incident light beam towards the well or chamber and directing a light beam away from the reaction chamber after the light beam has interacted with analytes present in the liquid.

Claims

1. A disposable reaction vessel, comprising:

a) a housing including a first housing section and a second housing section form fitted to said first housing section so that when the first and second housing sections are assembled to form said housing they are in sealing relationship;

b) a reaction chamber located inside of said housing;

c) an optical element integrally formed on an outside surface of the second housing section and located adjacent to said reaction chamber on the inside of the housing, said second housing section being at least partially constructed of a material which will transmit light to and from the reaction chamber;

d) a waste reservoir located on an interior of said housing, a first flow passageway between said reaction chamber and said waste reservoir, including reagent and sample inlets and a second flow passageway between said reagent and sample inlets and said reaction chamber;

c) a pattern of analyte-specific receptors bound to an inner surface of the reaction chamber, the patterned area being substantially surrounded by an array of radially oriented microfluidic channels configured to direct fluid from said reaction chamber radially outward to said first flow passageway; and

e) said disposable reaction vessel being configured to be mated to an analyser instrument wherein the optical element is shaped to direct a light beam from the analyser instrument to the reaction chamber for interrogating the pattern of analyte specific receptors, wherein the light beam interacts with the pre-selected pattern of analyte specific receptors and analytes bound thereto, and wherein the light beam that interacts with the pre-selected pattern of analyte-specific receptors and analytes bound thereto is a diffracted light beam which is directed away from said inner surface by said at least one optical element to a detector located in said analyzer instrument.

2. The vessel according to claim 1 wherein said reagent and sample inlets in flow communication with said reaction chamber are located at a first end portion of said housing, including an end cap configured to slide over said first end portion and snap fit thereon to be locked onto said housing and form a leak tight seal.

3. The vessel according to claim 2 wherein said end cap includes at least one fluid reservoir for holding reagents and/or liquid sample, said end cap being configured to slide over said first end portion and snap fit thereon to be locked onto said housing and form said leak tight seal, said at least one fluid reservoir including piercable sealing means, and wherein said reagent and sample inlets are configured to pierce said piercable sealing means when said end cap is slid onto said housing.

4. The vessel according to claim 2 wherein said reagent and sample inlets are spaced apart, and wherein said second flow passageway includes branches each associated with a sample or reagent inlet, said branches converging to a common passageway which terminates at said reaction chamber.

5. The vessel according to claim 2 wherein said housing includes at least one sample inlet and at least one reagent inlet, and wherein said end cap includes a separate liquid reservoir associated with each of the inlets and piercable sealing means sealing each liquid reservoir, and wherein each inlet includes a piercing means associated therewith for piercing said piercable sealing means.

6. The vessel according to claim 5 wherein said liquid reservoirs for holding reagents are pre-filled with selected reagents.

7. The vessel according to claim 2 wherein said end cap is labelled to indicate identity of the liquid reagents sealed therein.

8. The vessel according to claim 2 including fluid displacement means associated with each of the liquid reservoirs for displacing the reagents and sample into said second flow passageway.

9. The vessel according to claim 8 wherein said fluid displacement means includes means for pressurizing each of said liquid reservoirs to force liquid contents contained therein into said second flow passageway.

10. The vessel according to claim 8 wherein said fluid displacement means includes a piston assembly with a piston associated with each liquid reservoir and means for moving each piston independent of the other pistons.

11. The vessel according to claim 1 wherein said second flow passageway has dimensions selected to give capillary flow therein so that upon introduction of the reagents and sample to their respective inlets, capillary forces draw them into the second flow passageway towards said reaction chamber.

12. The vessel according to claim 1 wherein said first flow passageway has dimensions selected to give capillary flow therein so that the reagents and sample are drawn out of said reaction chamber after the analyser instrument has completed a designated diffraction assay by capillary forces to draw them into the waste chamber.

13. The vessel according to claim 1 wherein at least one of said first and second housing sections, or both, includes a keying mechanism to provide a mechanical interface and alignment to said analyser instrument.

14. The vessel according to claim 13 wherein said keying mechanism includes at least one guide rail extending along an outer surface of one of the first and second housing sections, or both, which is received by an associated slot in a receiving station in said analyser instrument.

15. The vessel according to claim 1 wherein one of said first and second housing sections, or both, has a portion configured to receive a label affixed thereto.

16. The vessel according to claim 15 wherein said label is one of a human readable label and a machine readable label, or both.

17. The vessel according to claim 15 wherein said machine readable label is selected from the group consisting of bar codes and radio frequency (RF) identifiers.

18. The vessel according to claim 1 including fluorescent compounds bound to, or interacting with, said pattern of analyte-specific receptors which can be induced by an incident beam of light, which may or may not be coherent, to fluoresce and reemit light at a shifted wavelength in a more or less non-directional manner, which is detected by a photodetector incorporated into said analyzer instrument.

19. The vessel according to claim 1 including chemiluminescent compounds bound to, or interacting with, said pattern of analyte-specific receptors which can be induced by an incident beam of light, which may or may not be coherent, to chemiluminesce and emit light in a more or less non-directional manner, which is detected by a photodetector incorporated into said analyzer instrument.