Apparatus and method for trapping bead based reagents within microfluidic analysis systems
First Claim
1. A microfluidic analysis system, comprising:
- a) a substantially planar substrate having an upper surface;
b) at least one main channel formed into said upper surface, said main channel having first and second ends and a defined direction of flow in use;
c) a cover plate arranged over said planar substrate, said cover plate closing off said channel from above;
d) a packing material having constituent particles that are non-polar, ande) a first weir formed across said main channel and between said first and second ends of said channel, said first weir providing at least one flow gap to allow, in use, at least some fluid to flow past said first weir while trapping said packing material the material comprising constituent particles that are generally larger than said flow gap.
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Abstract
An on-chip packed reactor bed design is disclosed that allows for an effective exchange of packing materials such as beads at a miniaturized level. Also disclosed is a method of treating a sample within a microfluidic analysis system, comprising; providing a main channel having a trapping zone; providing a slurry of a reagent treated packing material; inducing a flow of said packing material into said trapping zone through a flow channel connected to said trapping zone to load said trapping zone and form a packed bed of said packing material; and flowing a sample containing analytes through said packed bed, said reagent treating the sample. The present invention extends the function of microfluidic analysis systems to new applications including on-chip solid phase extraction (SPE) and on-chip capillary electrochromatography (CEC). The design can be further extended to include integrated packed bed immuno- or enzyme reactors.
220 Citations
10 Claims
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1. A microfluidic analysis system, comprising:
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a) a substantially planar substrate having an upper surface; b) at least one main channel formed into said upper surface, said main channel having first and second ends and a defined direction of flow in use; c) a cover plate arranged over said planar substrate, said cover plate closing off said channel from above; d) a packing material having constituent particles that are non-polar, and e) a first weir formed across said main channel and between said first and second ends of said channel, said first weir providing at least one flow gap to allow, in use, at least some fluid to flow past said first weir while trapping said packing material the material comprising constituent particles that are generally larger than said flow gap. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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Specification