Redrawn capillary imaging reservoir
First Claim
1. A method for transferring individual droplets of liquid to a substrate, comprising the steps of:
- providing a reservoir device having a plurality of individual passages, each having an output end;
positioning a transfer device having an array of pins extending therefrom such that the pins face the output ends of the passages;
contacting the pins with liquid from the corresponding passages to transfer droplets of liquid from the corresponding passages to the pins;
maintaining liquid that remains in the passages after transfer of the droplets of liquid to the pins, at the output ends of the passages via capillary force; and
moving the pins relative to the substrate to transfer the droplets of liquid onto the substrate.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for depositing a high density biological or chemical array onto a solid support. Specifically, the apparatus is made up of a plurality of open ended channels collectively forming a matrix. The matrix has been redrawn and cut such that the pitch of the channels on the loading end is larger than the pitch of the channels on the liquid delivery end. The upper portion of each channel serves as a reservoir, while the opposing end, which has been formed by the redrawing process, is diametrically sized such that liquid in the reservoir is retained by capillary pressure at the delivery end. At any point along the height of the capillary reservoir device, all cross-sectional dimensions and areas are uniformly reduced. In other words, the on-center orientation of any two channels, also referred to as the pitch between 2 channels, measured as a function of the diameter of any cross section, is constant throughout the structure. The liquid within the channels is either printed directly from the tool onto a substrate or transferred to a substrate by a typographical pin plate. In another embodiment, the device may be used in transferring sample between multiwell plates of different well density.
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Citations
42 Claims
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1. A method for transferring individual droplets of liquid to a substrate, comprising the steps of:
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providing a reservoir device having a plurality of individual passages, each having an output end;
positioning a transfer device having an array of pins extending therefrom such that the pins face the output ends of the passages;
contacting the pins with liquid from the corresponding passages to transfer droplets of liquid from the corresponding passages to the pins;
maintaining liquid that remains in the passages after transfer of the droplets of liquid to the pins, at the output ends of the passages via capillary force; and
moving the pins relative to the substrate to transfer the droplets of liquid onto the substrate. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for transferring individual droplets of liquid to a substrate, comprising the steps of:
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providing a reservoir device having a plurality of individual passages, each having an output end;
positioning a transfer device having an array of pins extending therefrom such that the pins face the output ends of the passages;
contacting the pins with liquid from the corresponding passages to transfer droplets of liquid from the corresponding passages to the pins;
maintaining liquid at the output ends of the passages via capillary force; and
moving the pins relative to the substrate to transfer the droplets of liquid onto the substrate. - View Dependent Claims (9)
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10. A method for transferring individual droplets of liquid to a substrate, comprising the steps of:
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providing a reservoir device having a plurality of individual passages, each having an output end;
positioning a transfer device having an array of pins extending therefrom such that the pins face the output ends of the passages;
contacting the pins with liquid from the corresponding passages to transfer droplets of liquid from the corresponding passages to the pins;
maintaining liquid at the output ends of the passages via capillary force; and
moving the pins relative to the substrate to transfer the droplets of liquid onto the substrate, wherein the providing step includes extruding material through a die thereby forming a block having the passages, and redrawing the block such that a circumference of the block is reduced.
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11. A method for transferring individual droplets of liquid to a substrate, comprising the steps of:
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providing a reservoir device having a plurality of individual passages, each having an output end;
positioning a transfer device having an array of pins extending therefrom such that the pins are opposite the output ends of the passages;
contacting the pins with liquid from the corresponding passages to transfer droplets of liquid from the corresponding passages to the pins;
maintaining liquid at the output ends of the passages via capillary force; and
moving the pins relative to the substrate to transfer the droplets of liquid onto the substrate.
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12. A method for transferring individual droplets of liquid to a substrate, comprising the steps of:
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providing a reservoir device having a plurality of individual passages, each having an output end and an input end of different cross sectional area than the output end, a ratio of the cross sectional area of one of the passages relative to a cross sectional area of the reservoir device is substantially identical at a liquid-input end of the reservoir device and a liquid-output end of the reservoir device;
positioning a transfer device having an array of pins extending therefrom such that the pins face the output ends of the passages;
contacting the pins with liquid from the corresponding passages to transfer droplets of liquid from the corresponding passages to the pins;
maintaining liquid at the output ends of the passages via capillary force; and
moving the pins relative to the substrate to transfer the droplets of liquid onto the substrate.
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13. An apparatus for transferring individual droplets of liquid to a substrate, comprising:
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a reservoir device having a plurality of individual passages, each of the passages having an output end; and
a transfer device having an array of pins extending therefrom, the transfer device positionable such that the pins face the output ends of the passages, the pins being adapted to receive liquid from corresponding passages for transfer of individual droplets of liquid to the substrate, wherein the passages are configured to retain liquid that remains in the passages after the pins receive liquid, at the output ends of the passages via capillary force. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 35, 36)
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33. An apparatus for transferring individual droplets of liquid to a substrate, comprising:
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a reservoir device having a plurality of individual passages, each of the passages having an output end; and
a transfer device having an array of pins extending therefrom, the transfer device positionable such that the pins face the output ends of the passages, the pins being adapted to receive liquid from corresponding passages for transfer of individual droplets of liquid to the substrate, wherein the passages are configured to retain liquid that remains in the passages after the pins receive liquid, at the output ends of the passages via capillary force, wherein the reservoir device has an input and an output in the same plane as the input, and wherein the reservoir device has a substantially U-shape.
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34. An apparatus for transferring individual droplets of liquid to a substrate, comprising:
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a reservoir device having a plurality of individual passages, each of the passages having an output end; and
a transfer device having an array of pins extending therefrom, the transfer device positionable such that the pins face the output ends of the passages, the pins being adapted to receive liquid from corresponding passages for transfer of individual droplets of liquid to the substrate, wherein the passages are configured to retain liquid that remains in the passages after the pins receive liquid, at the output ends of the passages via capillary force, and wherein the reservoir device has an input and an output in a different plane from the input.
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37. An apparatus for transferring individual droplets of liquid to a substrate, comprising:
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a reservoir device having a plurality of individual passages, each of the passages having an output end; and
a transfer device having an array of pins extending therefrom, the transfer device positionable such that the pins face the output ends of the passages, the pins being adapted to receive liquid from corresponding passages for transfer of individual droplets of liquid to the substrate, wherein the passages are configured to retain liquid that remains in the passages after the pins receive liquid, at the output ends of the passages via capillary force, wherein the passages of the reservoir device have an input end in the same plane as the output end, and wherein the passages of the reservoir device form a substantially U-shape.
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38. An apparatus for transferring individual droplets of liquid to a substrate, comprising:
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a reservoir device having a plurality of individual passages, each of the passages having an output end; and
a transfer device having an array of pins extending therefrom, the transfer device positionable such that the pins face the output ends of the passages, the pins being adapted to receive liquid from corresponding passages for transfer of individual droplets of liquid to the substrate, wherein the passages are configured to retain liquid that remains in the passages after the pins receive liquid, at the output ends of the passages via capillary force, and wherein the passages of the reservoir device have an input end in a different plane from the output end. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40)
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41. An apparatus for transferring individual droplets of liquid to a substrate, comprising:
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a reservoir device having a plurality of individual passages, each of the passages having an output end; and
a transfer device having an array of pins extending therefrom, the transfer device positionable such that the pins face the output ends of the passages, the pins being adapted to receive liquid from corresponding passages for transfer of individual droplets of liquid to the substrate, wherein the passages are configured to retain liquid that remains in the passages after the pins receive liquid, at the output ends of the passages via capillary force, wherein the passages of the reservoir device have an input end in the same plane as the output end, and wherein the reservoir device contains approximately 10,000 individual passages.
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42. An apparatus for transferring individual droplets of liquid to a substrate, comprising:
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a reservoir device having a plurality of individual passages, each of the passages having an output end and an input end of different cross sectional area than the output end, a ratio of the cross sectional area of one of the passages relative to a cross sectional area of the reservoir device being substantially identical at a liquid-input end of the reservoir device and a liquid-output end of the reservoir device, the passages being configured to retain liquid at the output ends thereof via capillary force; and
a transfer device having an array of pins extending therefrom, the transfer device positionable such that the pins face the output ends of the passages, the pins being adapted to receive liquid from corresponding passages for transfer of individual droplets of liquid to the substrate.
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Specification