Method and apparatus for programmable fluidic processing

• US 7,641,779 B2
• Filed: 05/23/2005
• Issued: 01/05/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Board of Regents of the University of Texas System (University of Texas System)
• Original Assignee: Board of Regents of the University of Texas System (University of Texas System)
• Inventors: De Gasperis, Giovanni, Wang, Xiaobo, Becker, Frederick F., Gascoyne, Peter, Vykoukal, Jody Valentine
• Primary Examiner(s): NOGUEROLA, ALEXANDER STEPHAN
• Application Number:
  US11/135,615
• Publication Number:
  US 20060070879A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,688 Days
• Field of Search: 204/450, 204/600, 204/547, 204/643
• US Class Current: 204/547
• CPC Class Codes: B01F 2215/0404 theories or general explanations of phenomena associated with mixing or generalizations of a concept by comparison of equivalent methods
• CPC Class Codes: B01F 33/3031 using electro-hydrodynamic [EHD] or electro-kinetic [EKI] phenomena to mix or move the fluids
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2200/143 Quality control, feedback systems
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2300/089 Virtual walls for guiding liquids
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2400/0421 electrophoretic flow
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2400/0424 Dielectrophoretic forces
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2400/0454 radiation pressure, optical tweezers
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 3/502715 characterised by interfacing components, e.g. fluidic, electrical, optical or mechanical interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 3/502761 specially adapted for handling suspended solids or molecules independently from the bulk fluid flow, e.g. for trapping or sorting beads, for physically stretching molecules investigating characteristics of particles G01N15/00
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 3/502792 for moving individual droplets on a plate, e.g. by locally altering surface tension
• CPC Class Codes: B03C 5/005 Dielectrophoresis, i.e. dielectric particles migrating towards the region of highest field strength B03C5/02 takes precedence; electrophoresis B01D57/02
• CPC Class Codes: B03C 5/024 using high-gradient differential dielectric separation, i.e. using a dielectric matrix polarised by an external field
• CPC Class Codes: B03C 5/026 using open-gradient differential dielectric separation, i.e. using electrodes of special shapes for non-uniform field creation, e.g. Fluid Integrated Circuit [FIC]
• CPC Class Codes: B03C 5/028 using travelling electric fields, i.e. travelling wave dielectrophoresis [TWD]
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 27/447 using electrophoresis
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 27/44773 Multi-stage electrophoresis, e.g. two-dimensional electrophoresis

Abstract

A method and apparatus for microfluidic processing by programmably manipulating a packet. A material is introduced onto a reaction surface and compartmentalized to form a packet. A position of the packet is sensed with a position sensor. A programmable manipulation force is applied to the packet at the position. The programmable manipulation force is adjustable according to packet position by a controller. The packet is programmably moved according to the programmable manipulation force along arbitrarily chosen paths.

Claims

1. A method for manipulating a packet, comprising:

positioning a packet on a reaction surface that is coupled to a force generator, the reaction surface and force generator configured to generate dielectrophoretic forces capable of moving a packet about the reaction surface along arbitrarily chosen paths;

reading machine-executable manipulation instructions for a specific fluid processing test from stored data;

executing the manipulation instructions to generate a dielectrophoretic force that moves the packet upon the reaction surface according to the fluid processing test; and

sensing with a position sensor a position of the packet, the position sensor configured to track the position of a packet along arbitrarily chosen paths about the reaction surface.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining if the position of the packet is in error relative to the specific fluid processing test.

3. The method of claim 2, where determining if the position of the packet is in error comprises determining whether movement of the packet corresponds to a path specified by the manipulation instructions.

4. The method of claim 3, where the path specified by the manipulation instructions comprises an initial position and a final position.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising reporting the error if an error is determined.

6. The method of claim 1, where the packet comprises a fluid packet, an encapsulated packet, or a solid packet.

7. The method of claim 1, where generating a dielectrophoretic force comprises applying a driving signal to one or more driving electrodes arranged in an array.

8. The method of claim 1, where sensing comprises applying a sensing signal to one or more impedance sensing electrodes arranged in an array.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising interacting the packet with another packet, where interacting comprises moving, fusing, merging, mixing, reacting, metering, dividing, splitting, sensing, collecting, or any combination thereof.

10. The method of claim 1, where the manipulation instructions are part of a subroutine within a library interface.

11. The method of claim 1, where the manipulation instructions are custom instructions generated using a software interface.

12. A system for manipulating a packet, comprising:

a programmable dielectrophoretic array (PDA);

a computer;

a library interface coupled to the computer and configured to store subroutines for programmably manipulating packets within the PDA;

a software interface coupled to the computer and configured to allow custom programming of instructions for programmably manipulating packets within the PDA;

a position tracking agent coupled to the computer and configured to store, process, and track positions of packets within the PDA; and

a low-level control agent coupled to the computer and configured to provide instructions to the computer;

where the system is configured to generate dielectrophoretic forces capable of moving the packet about the reaction surface along arbitrarily chosen paths; and

where the position tracking agent is configured to track the position of a packet along arbitrarily chosen paths about the reaction surface.

13. An apparatus for manipulating a packet, comprising:

a fluidic device comprising a reaction surface, driving electrodes that generate a dielectrophoretic force on a packet upon the reaction surface, and sensing electrodes that detect a position of the packet upon the reaction surface; and

an integrated circuit coupled to the fluidic device and configured to control the driving and sensing electrodes, the fluidic device configured to generate dielectrophoretic forces capable of moving a packet about the reaction surface along arbitrarily chosen paths, and the fluidic device configured to track the position of a packet along arbitrarily chosen paths about the reaction surface.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising an interface board coupled to the fluidic device and integrated circuit.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, the integrated circuit being configured to adjust driving signals to the driving electrodes according to positions of packets determined by the sensing electrodes.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, the integrated circuit being configured to adjust the driving signals to move the packets along arbitrarily chosen paths.