Optical lens system and method for microfluidic devices
DCFirst Claim
1. An apparatus for imaging one or more selected fluorescence indications from a microfluidic device, the apparatus comprising:
- an imaging path coupled to at least one chamber in at least one microfluidic device, wherein the microfluidic device is an elastomeric microfluidic device and wherein the at least one chamber is a closed reaction chamber, the imaging path providing for transmission of one or more fluorescent emission signals derived from one or more samples in the at least one chamber of the at least one microfluidic device, the chamber having a chamber size, the chamber size being characterized by an actual spatial dimension normal to the imaging path; and
an optical lens system coupled to the imaging path, the optical lens system being adapted to transmit the one or more fluorescent signals associated with the chamber, the optical lens system being further adapted to reduce a size of the actual spatial dimension to a determined level and to transmit the one or more fluorescent emission signals associated with the chamber at the reduced size at the determined level, wherein the reduced size of the actual spatial dimension and the actual spatial dimension are characterized by a ratio of less than 0.9.
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Abstract
An apparatus for imaging one or more selected fluorescence indications from a microfluidic device. The apparatus includes an imaging path coupled to least one chamber in at least one microfluidic device. The imaging path provides for transmission of one or more fluorescent emission signals derived from one or more samples in the at least one chamber of the at least one microfluidic device. The chamber has a chamber size, the chamber size being characterized by an actual spatial dimension normal to the imaging path. The apparatus also includes an optical lens system coupled to the imaging path. The optical lens system is adapted to transmit the one or more fluorescent signals associated with the chamber.
108 Citations
65 Claims
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1. An apparatus for imaging one or more selected fluorescence indications from a microfluidic device, the apparatus comprising:
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an imaging path coupled to at least one chamber in at least one microfluidic device, wherein the microfluidic device is an elastomeric microfluidic device and wherein the at least one chamber is a closed reaction chamber, the imaging path providing for transmission of one or more fluorescent emission signals derived from one or more samples in the at least one chamber of the at least one microfluidic device, the chamber having a chamber size, the chamber size being characterized by an actual spatial dimension normal to the imaging path; and an optical lens system coupled to the imaging path, the optical lens system being adapted to transmit the one or more fluorescent signals associated with the chamber, the optical lens system being further adapted to reduce a size of the actual spatial dimension to a determined level and to transmit the one or more fluorescent emission signals associated with the chamber at the reduced size at the determined level, wherein the reduced size of the actual spatial dimension and the actual spatial dimension are characterized by a ratio of less than 0.9. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A method of imaging one or more selected fluorescence indications from at least one chamber of a microfluidic device, the method compnsing:
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transmitting one or more fluorescent emission signals derived from one or more samples in the at least one chamber of at least one microfluidic device along an imaging path coupled to the at least one chamber, wherein the microfluidic device is an elastomeric microfluidic device and wherein the at least one chamber is a closed reaction chamber having a chamber size, the chamber size being characterized by an actual spatial dimension normal to the imaging path; and transmitting the one or more fluorescent emission signals associated with the chamber through an optical lens system coupled to the imaging path, wherein the optical lens system is adapted to reduce a size of the actual spatial dimension to a determined level and the reduced size of the actual spatial dimension and the actual spatial dimension are characterized by a ratio of less than 0.9. - View Dependent Claims (5)
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6. A system for imaging one or more indications from one or more chambers of a microfluidic device, the system comprising:
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an optical path, the optical path being capable of transmitting one or more images of a portion of a spatial region of a microfluidic device from the portion of the spatial region of the microfluidic device, the portion of the spatial region of the microfluidic device being characterized by a first dimension; a first lens system coupled to a first portion of the optical path, the first lens system being characterized by a first optical characteristic; a second lens system coupled to a second portion of the optical path, the second lens system being characterized by a second optical characteristic, wherein the first lens system and the second lens system are characterized as a tandem lens system; and a detector device coupled to a third portion of the optical path, the detector device capturing the one or more images of the portion of the spatial region, the detector being adapted to capture the one or more images, the one or more images having a determined size at the detector device of about the first dimension or less, wherein the determined size is about 0.99 of the first dimension or less. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method for imaging one or more indications from one or more chambers of a microfluidic device, the method comprising:
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transmitting one or more images of a portion of a spatial region of a microfluidic device from the portion of the spatial region of the microfluidic device along an optical path, the portion of the spatial region of the microfluidic device being characterized by a first dimension; coupling a first lens system to a first portion of the optical path, the first lens system being characterized by a first optical characteristic; coupling a second lens system to a second portion of the optical path, the second lens system being characterized by a second optical characteristic; and capturing the one or more images of the portion of the spatial region using a detector device, the detector device being coupled to a third portion of the optical path, the one or more images having a determined size at the detector device of about the first dimension or less, wherein the determined size is about 0.99 of the first dimension or less. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14)
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15. A method of imaging microfluidic devices, the method comprising:
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transmitting an image of a spatial region of a microfluidic device, the spatial region being associated with more than 96 chambers; and capturing the image of the spatial region using an image detection spatial region associated with an image detecting device, the image detection spatial region being of about an equal size of the spatial region of the microfluidic device. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A method of imaging microfluidic devices, the method comprising:
capturing an image of a spatial region associated with at least a determined number of chambers of a microfluidic device using an image detection spatial region during a time frame of less than one minute, whereupon the capturing of the image of the spatial region is substantially free from a stitching and/or scanning process. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. An apparatus for imaging one or more selected fluorescence indications from a microfluidic device, the apparatus comprising:
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an imaging path coupled to least one chamber in at least one microfluidic device, the imaging path providing for transmission of one or more fluorescent emission signals derived from one or more samples in the at least one chamber of the at least one microfluidic device; an optical filter device coupled to a first spatial portion of the imaging path provided for transmission of the one or more emission signals, the optical filter device being adapted to transmit a selected spectral bandwidth from the one or more fluorescent emission signals and being adapted to process one or more chromatic aberrations associated with the one or more fluorescent emission signals to a determined level; a detector coupled to a second spatial portion of the imaging path to read a portion of the one or more fluorescent emission signals; a first lens system coupled to a third spatial portion of the imaging path, the first lens system being adapted to capture one or more fluorescent emission signals derived from the at least one chamber in the at least one microfluidic device; an optical source providing electromagnetic radiation characterized by one or more spectral bandwidths; an optical element coupled to the optical source, the optical element being adapted to irradiate at least 96 chambers in the at least one microfluidic device, wherein a group of more than 48 chambers is in fluidic isolation from any of the other chambers in the group of more than 48 chambers; a second lens system coupled to a fourth spatial portion of the imaging path; and a thermal control module adapted to provide thermal control for the at least one microfluidic device, wherein the optical filter device comprises a plurality of spectral filters and a plurality of zero-power doublets. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. A method of analyzing processes in elastomeric microfluidic devices, the method comprising:
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capturing an image of at least 96 chambers in a time period of less than one minute, wherein each of the chambers in the at least 96 chambers is in fluidic isolation from any of the other chambers in the at least 96 chambers; and processing the image. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
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51. An apparatus for imaging an elastomeric microfluidic device comprising a plurality of processing sites, the plurality of processing sites containing at least one sample selected from M samples and at least one reagent selected from N reagents, the apparatus comprising:
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an illumination system coupled to the elastomeric microfluidic device and adapted to illuminate the elastomeric microfluidic device with electromagnetic radiation; an imaging system coupled to the elastomeric microfluidic device and adapted to receive electromagnetic radiation emitted from the plurality of processing sites, wherein the electromagnetic radiation emitted from the plurality of processing sites is a fluorescent signal; a detector coupled to the imaging system; and a thermal controller coupled to the elastomeric microfluidic device. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65)
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Specification