Fluidic structures including meandering and wide channels

US9683993B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignees

• President and Fellows of Harvard College · US
• OPKO Diagnostics, LLC · US

Inventors

• Vincent Linder · Tewksbury, US
• Samuel K. Sia · New York, US
• George M. Whitesides · Newton, US
• Max Narovlyansky · Cambridge, US
• Adam Siegel · New York, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Apr 10, 2013
• Grant date: Jun 20, 2017
• Expiry date: Apr 10, 2033

Classification

• Technology area (CPC B): Performing Operations; Transporting
• CPC primary: B01L2400/0406
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

The present invention relates generally to microfluidic structures, and more specifically, to microfluidic structures and methods including meandering and wide channels. Microfluidic systems can provide an advantageous environment for performing various reactions and analyses due to a reduction in sample and reagent quantities that are required, a reduction in the size of the operating system, and a decrease in reaction time compared to conventional systems. Unfortunately, the small size of microfluidic channels can sometimes result in difficulty in detecting a species without magnifying optics (such as a microscope or a photomultiplier). A series of tightly packed microchannels, i.e., a meandering region, or a wide channel having a dimension on the order of millimeters, can serve as a solution to this problem by creating a wide measurement area. Although this invention mainly describes the use of meandering and wide channels in heterogeneous immunoassays on a microfluidic chip, this invention could be used for amplifying optical signals for other types of reactions and/or assays.