Barriers for facilitating biological reactions

• US 8,304,188 B2
• Filed: 06/16/2011
• Issued: 11/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Northwestern University
• Original Assignee: Northwestern University
• Inventors: Kelso, David M., Sur, Kunal, Parpia, Zaheer
• Primary Examiner(s): FORMAN, BETTY J
• Application Number:
  US13/162,524
• Publication Number:
  US 20110269190A1
• Time in Patent Office: 509 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 435/6.1
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2200/04 Exchange or ejection of cartridges, containers or reservoirs
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2200/0647 Handling flowable solids, e.g. microscopic beads, cells, particles
• 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 2200/16 Reagents, handling or storing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2300/087 Multiple sequential chambers
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2400/043 magnetic forces
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2400/0677 phase change valves; Meltable, freezing, dissolvable plugs; Destructible barriers
• 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 3/50851 specially adapted for heating or cooling samples laboratory heating apparatus B01L7/00; incubators C12M
• 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 33/54366 Apparatus specially adapted for solid-phase testing
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/54393 Improving reaction conditions or stability, e.g. by coating or irradiation of surface, by reduction of non-specific binding, by promotion of specific binding
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 436/25375 Liberation or purification of sample or separation of material from a sample [e.g., filtering, centrifuging, etc.]

Abstract

The present invention relates to systems, devices, and methods for performing biological reactions. In particular, the present invention relates to the use of lipophilic, water immiscible, or hydrophobic barriers in sample separation, purification, modification, and analysis processes.

Claims

1. A method for isolating a material from a sample, comprising:

placing a sample comprising a material of interest into a first chamber of a device, the first chamber containing a solution comprising water, the device also comprising a second chamber that contains a solution comprising water, and a water immiscible substance disposed between the first and second chambers;

applying an external, applied force to the material of interest in the first chamber, the applied force capable of interacting with the material of interest or with a component associated with the material of interest; and

transferring, by relative movement of the applied force with respect to the first chamber, the material of interest from the first chamber, into and through the immiscible substance, and into the second chamber, wherein during said transferring the solutions in the first and second chambers are stationary,

whereby the material of interest is isolated from the sample.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein placing comprises placing the sample in the first chamber of the device and then depositing the water immiscible substance between the first and second chambers.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising placing a solid carrier component in a chamber of the device, the carrier component capable of associating with the material of interest.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said placing comprises placing a solid carrier component comprising a magnetic particles.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein applying an external, applied force comprises applying an external magnetic force.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein transferring comprises transferring the magnetic particles with the material of interest associated with the magnetic particles into and through the water immiscible substance.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the material of interest is selected from an analyte and a cell.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein transferring comprises moving a sample transport component that generates the force.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the material of interest is a nucleic acid.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein transferring comprises transferring the nucleic acid from the solution in the first chamber, into and through the water immiscible substance, and directly into the solution in the second chamber.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein placing comprises providing a device wherein a chamber in the device comprises magnetic particles.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the solution comprising water in the first chamber is a wash solution.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the solution comprising water in the first chamber is a water-alcohol solution.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein placing the sample in the device wherein the second chamber comprises a reagent selected from the group consisting of an elution medium, an amplification reagent, or both.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein placing comprises placing the sample in the device wherein the first and second chambers are within a plurality of chambers, and the first chamber is preceded by one or more chambers in the plurality of chambers.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein a chamber preceding the first chamber comprises a lysis reagent.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the chamber comprising the lysis reagent additionally comprises magnetic particles as the component associated with the material of interest.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the one or more chambers preceding the first chamber comprise a chamber filled with a lysis reagent and a chamber filled with a wash medium.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the second chamber comprises a reagent selected from the group consisting of an elution medium, an amplification reagent, or both.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the sample comprising a material of interest is a biological sample that has been processed prior to placing in the first chamber of the device.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the sample comprising a material of interest that is placed in the first chamber is a biological sample that has been processed in a chamber of the device that precedes the first chamber.