Description:
The present invention describes a novel microfluidic device that allows high-throughput screening (HTS) for biological analysis including drug discovery, cellular assays, DNA analysis, protein crystallization and biomedical diagnostics. The technology developed at Texas Tech University offers a facile way to generate spatially defined arrays of nanoliter (billionth of a liter) volumes of fluids in an enclosed device with each individual volume containing a unique composition. For example, 384 nanoliter volumes can be arrayed in the device with the concentration of a reagent varying by 100,000 times using only one microliter of reagent. Fluid mixing and dilutions are made without using any moving parts or external force fields.
Market Applications:
Screening (drugs, biomarkers), Genetic Analysis, Proteomics, Cellular Assays and Biomedical Diagnostics.
Product Features and Benefits:
- Device is about the size of a penny and uses only a single pressure source and sample tubing for operation.
- Vast reduction in complexity and reagent volumes overcomes all of the challenges associated with today’s HTS technologies.
- Enables low-cost / high-value target screening in a variety of biological applications.
Inventor:
Dr. Siva A. Vanapalli, Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas Tech University.
Publications:
Sun, M., Bithi, S. S. and Vanapalli, S. A. "Static microfluidic droplet arrays with tunable gradients in material composition", Nature Materials, Submitted, 2011.
Bithi, S. S. and Vanapalli, S. A. "Behavior of a train of droplets in a fluidic network with hydrodynamic traps", Biomicrofluidics, 4, 044110, 2010.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3025453/pdf/BIOMGB-000004-044110_1.pdf