Portable Low Power Charged Particle Analysis Device

• US 20100270160A1
• Filed: 04/21/2010
• Published: 10/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: NAF Technologies LLC
• Original Assignee: NAF Technologies LLC
• Inventors: Shaikh, Faiz Aezazuddin, Shaikh, Faisal Aezazuddin
• Application Number:
  US12/764,502
• Publication Number:
  US 20100270160A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 204/601
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 57/02 by electrophoresis treatment of water, waste water, sewage or sludge by electrophoresis C02F1/469; electrophoretic production of compounds or non-metals C25B7/00; investigating or analysing materials by using electrophoresis G01N27/26
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2200/10 Integrating sample preparation and analysis in single entity, e.g. lab-on-a-chip concept
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2200/143 Quality control, feedback systems
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2300/0816 Cards, e.g. flat sample carriers usually with flow in two horizontal directions
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2400/0421 electrophoretic flow
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 3/502715 characterised by interfacing components, e.g. fluidic, electrical, optical or mechanical interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 7/52 with provision for submitting samples to a predetermined sequence of different temperatures, e.g. for treating nucleic acid samples amplification or hybridisation processes per se C12Q1/68; controlling sequential reactions for synthesis B01J19/0046
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 27/44713 Particularly adapted electric power supply

Abstract

The present invention is a portable low power system for charged particle analysis using electro kinetic flow in a Microfluidic channel, which may be interfaced with a computing device. The system consists of three parts: A required hardware device, an optional software client application and an optional software server application. The hardware based device may control the flow of ions through a Microfluidic channel based on specific analysis protocols and analyzes the sample to identify the ions; the optional software based client and server applications may support the process by performing at least one of following functions: hosting the analysis, hosting newly detected and old analyte signature data, and analyzing the detected signatures.

The hardware device may contain at least one of the three optionally connected sections controlling the flow of charged ions through the Microfluidic channel: One for ion extraction; this may be used if the charged particle such as a nucleic acid needs to be extracted or separated from its enclosing cell. The second section is for ionic concentration which involves keeping at least one electrode charged sufficiently long enough for the ions to accumulate at its surface electrokinetically. The third section consists of introducing the ion such as a nucleic acid in an electric field and identifying it based on its displacement in the channel in a specific time period. Each section may be absent from the system or bypassed either systematically or manually by not introducing the ion in the bypassed section.

Claims

1. A portable system for charged particle analysis, using electro kinetics in a Microfluidic channel which may be interfaced with a computing device. The system consists of three parts:

a. A required hardware device, b. an optional software based client application and c. an optional software based server application.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein said device controls the flow of ions through an optionally portable detachable and disposable Microfluidic channel based on specific analysis rules and analyzes the flow to detect the ion signature

3. The software based client application of claim 1, wherein said application may support the process by performing at least one of following functions:

a. hosting the analysis protocols, b. hosting newly detected and old analyte signature data, c. hosting and serving the analysis rules, and d. analyzing detected analyte signatures

4. The software based server application of claim 1, wherein said application may support the process by performing at least one of following functions:

a. hosting and serving the analyses rules, b. hosting and serving newly detected and old ion signature data, c. hosting and serving the analyses logs, and d. analyzing detected ion signatures.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein said device consists of a base electronic driver circuitry that electrically controls the flow of charged analytes through a buffer solution in the Microfluidic channel that may contain at least one of the three optionally connected sections:

a. One for charged analyte extraction;

b. The second section is for concentrating the analyte, c. The third for ion breakdown and d. The third section for ionic detection

6. The device of claim 1, wherein said device interfaces electronically with the software based client application of claim 1, and optionally with the software based server application of claim 1, via any of the existing electronic data transfer techniques i.e. USB or the internet.

7. The ion extraction section of claim 5, wherein said section may be used if the charged chemical species such as a nucleic acid needs to be extracted or separated from its enclosing cell.

8. The ion concentration section of claim 5, wherein said section involves keeping at least one electrode around the Microfluidic channel charged sufficiently long enough for the ions to accumulate around them

9. The ion breakdown section of claim 5, wherein said section involves introducing a gated reactant into the channel to break it down into smaller molecules, like short tandem repeats for nucleic acids.

10. The ion analysis section of claim 5, wherein said section introduces the ion such as a nucleic acid in an electric field of specified strength and identifies it based on its displacement and/or velocity profile in the Microfluidic channel in a specific time period

11. The measurement of displacement or velocity of claim 8, wherein said measurement is done by, optionally magnifying, and imaging the Microfluidic channel

12. The three optional sections of claim 5, wherein said sections may be absent from the system or bypassed either systematically or manually by not introducing the ion in the bypassed section

13. The analysis rules of claims 3 and 4, wherein said rules dictate the type actions to be performed by the device, viz. the sequence, amount and duration for which the charge between specific electrodes is to be applied, and the imaging control information

14. The analysis rules of claims 3 and 4, wherein said rules can indicate a new ion signature detection process

15. The ion signature data of claims 3 and 4, wherein said data is the digital representation of the displacement and velocity profiles of individual ions qualified by distance, time and potential differences

16. The ion signature data of claims 3 and 4, wherein said data is unique to a charge and size of the ion, and can be used to uniquely identify the ion

17. The ion signature data of claims 3 and 4, wherein said data can be used to match with detected signature from the hardware device of claim 2, and provide a probabilistic match of the sample

18. The ion signature data of claims 3 and 4, wherein said data is unique to a specific nucleic acid or short tandem repeat thereof

19. The software based client application of claim 1, wherein said application may run on a mobile or portable computing platform

20. The software based server application of claim 1, wherein said application may run on a mobile or portable computing platform