105 results about "Digital microfluidics" patented technology

The invention discloses a closed-loop control digital microfluidic system and a method thereof, and relates to the technical field of microfluidics, and the method comprises the following steps: initializing a digital microfluidic chip electrode array, setting an electrode spacing, an electrode size and a voltage upper limit, collecting a no-load state signal, and generating initial reference data; liquid drops are formed at the preset position of the digital micro-fluidic chip, and according to the initial reference data, the initial position, the volume and the form information of the liquid drops are collected, and a liquid drop initial state data set is generated; inputting the initial state data set of the liquid drop into a pre-trained closed-loop prediction model, performing kinetic analysis and trajectory prediction calculation, generating an expected motion trajectory of the liquid drop, and comparing the expected motion trajectory with the real-time state data flow of the liquid drop to generate deviation feedback data of the liquid drop; and dynamically adjusting the initial driving voltage parameter according to the droplet deviation feedback data to generate a closed-loop driving voltage sequence. The liquid drop trajectory control precision is improved, and motion errors caused by environmental disturbance and electrode response differences are reduced.

The invention discloses a liquid drop routing method under fluid constraint in a digital micro-fluidic biochip based on reinforcement learning and imitation learning, and aims to solve the technical problems of low planning efficiency, low success rate and weak generalization ability of a traditional liquid drop routing algorithm under fluid constraint. The method adopts a strategy combining imitation learning and reinforcement learning and comprises the following steps: firstly, generating expert data by utilizing an expert algorithm meeting fluid constraint after transformation, and pre-training a network model through imitation learning to enable the network model to quickly grasp a basic routing strategy; the model and environment interaction are autonomously optimized through reinforcement learning, and the adaptability to the dynamic environment is improved. And finally fusing the weights to form a final model. Through the hybrid training framework, the success rate and planning efficiency of droplet routing are remarkably improved, and the generalization ability of the model to chip environments with different sizes is enhanced.

The invention relates to the field of cell analysis, and provides a multi-mode digital micro-fluidic system and method for cell sorting analysis, the system comprises an active digital micro-fluidic platform, the active digital micro-fluidic platform comprises a micro-fluidic chip, an upper computer control system and an FPGA hardware circuit, an upper computer generates a liquid drop path planning instruction, the FPGA hardware circuit converts the liquid drop path planning instruction into an electrode driving signal, and the electrode driving signal is transmitted to the micro-fluidic chip; the nanoliter-grade liquid drops are driven to change between the electrodes; the optical tweezers platform comprises a laser device, an optical microscope and a CMOS camera, laser beams are generated by the laser device to form a three-dimensional optical potential well, the laser beams are transmitted into the micro-fluidic chip through the optical microscope to realize non-contact control on cells, and the CMOS camera records images and transmits the images back to the upper computer; the objective table clamp is used for realizing cooperative control of the optical tweezers and the active digital microfluidics; and the image recognition system is used for recognizing morphological characteristics of cells in the liquid drops based on a convolutional neural network and screening target cells. According to the invention, integration of high-throughput nondestructive cell sorting and in-situ multi-modal analysis is realized.

The present application relates to a kind of micro nuclear magnetic resonance probe and nucleic acid, antibody nuclear magnetic resonance detection method.Micro nuclear magnetic resonance probe includes the parallel arrangement of first plane shimming coil, nuclear magnetic resonance micro coil chip, digital microfluidic chip and second plane shimming coil in sequence, digital microfluidic chip is single pole plate form, the microstrip of medium substrate on nuclear magnetic resonance micro coil chip is annular microstrip coil, nuclear magnetic resonance micro coil chip and digital microfluidic chip are spaced apart.There is beneficial effect: through digital microfluidic chip control droplet, with simple structure, easy integration advantage;Annular microstrip coil can generate a uniform B1 field that matches the shape of droplet, can improve the filling factor of trace sample droplet;Nucleic acid, antibody modified magnetic particle probe can enhance nuclear magnetic resonance detection sensitivity, by quantitative analysis the change amount of relaxation time and the concentration of target detection substance, nucleic acid, antibody quantitative detection can be realized.

The application relates to the technical field of microfluidic chips and optical tweezers, in particular to a novel combination of an optical tweezers and a digital microfluidic chip structure manufacturing method, which comprises an upper chip substrate and a lower chip substrate; the upper chip substrate and the lower chip substrate are matched to form an optical tweezers functional area and a digital microfluidic functional area, and the optical tweezers functional area and the digital microfluidic functional area complete planar processing; the upper chip substrate comprises a hydrophobic layer, an insulating layer, an electrode layer and a glass layer; liquid crystal is arranged between the upper chip substrate and the lower chip substrate, and the liquid crystal contains cells. The application combines the optical tweezers and the digital microfluidic chip structure and the manufacturing method thereof, so that the photoelectric current control chip can be reused, the cost is reduced, the liquid phase separation capacity of small substances in microdroplets is improved, the problems of cell liquid phase separation, fixed time culture and detection can be solved, and the two technologies are not conflicted on the chip.

The invention relates to the technical field of microfluidics and molecular diagnosis, and discloses a digital micro-fluidic chip for preparing an NGS methylation library. Comprising a bearing substrate, an electrode array used for electrowetting driving is formed on the upper surface of the bearing substrate to serve as a liquid drop conveying channel, the bearing substrate is divided into a plurality of functional areas which are sequentially arranged from the first side to the second side, the areas are communicated with one another through the liquid drop conveying channel, and micro-liquid drops are transferred and distributed among the areas. The upper cover is arranged opposite to the bearing substrate, a micro-droplet containing cavity is defined between the upper cover and the bearing substrate through a spacing frame arranged around the electrode array, and the upper cover is provided with a plurality of liquid inlet and outlet holes corresponding to the functional areas respectively. The chip is driven by the electrode array, so that micro-droplets entering the reagent sample introduction area and the sample introduction area through the liquid inlet and outlet holes are sequentially conveyed to the reaction area, and the micro-droplets after reaction are transferred to the taking-out area and are output through the liquid inlet and outlet holes, so that at least part of steps in the NGS methylation library preparation process are completed.

The application discloses a kind of closed loop control digital microfluidic system and method thereof, it is related to microfluidic technical field, including, initialization digital microfluidic chip electrode array, set electrode spacing, electrode size and voltage upper limit, and collect empty load state signal, generate initial reference data;Droplet is formed in the predetermined position of digital microfluidic chip, and according to initial reference data, collect droplet initial position, volume and morphological information, generate droplet initial state data set;Droplet initial state data set is input after pre-training closed loop prediction model, carries out dynamics analysis and trajectory prediction calculation, generates droplet expected motion trajectory, and compares with droplet real-time state data flow, generates droplet deviation feedback data;According to droplet deviation feedback data, dynamically adjust preliminary driving voltage parameter, generate closed loop driving voltage sequence.The application improves droplet trajectory control precision, reduces environmental disturbance and the motion error brought by electrode response difference.

The application discloses an integrated digital microfluidic plasmonic metasurface chip biological image detection system, and belongs to the field of microfluidic and metasurface biological image sensing. The system comprises a digital microfluidic chip, a plasmonic metasurface chip, a light source, a CMOS image sensor and a control circuit. The digital microfluidic chip is provided with a driving electrode array, a medium layer and a hydrophobic layer, and is used for constructing a liquid path and controlling droplets. The plasmonic metasurface chip is combined with the digital microfluidic chip to form a detection site, and is used for detecting biomolecules by using a plasmonic resonance effect. The light source is used for exciting plasmonic resonance. The CMOS image sensor is used for capturing images at the detection site. The control circuit is used for controlling electrodes of the digital microfluidic chip, and realizes construction of the liquid path and control of the droplets. The biomolecule solution to be detected can be accurately guided to the detection site of the plasmonic metasurface chip, the light source is used for exciting plasmonic resonance, and the CMOS image sensor is used for capturing images. Image intensity changes are analyzed by using image processing software, and a detection result of the biomolecules is obtained.

The application belongs to the technical field of digital microfluidics, and discloses a high-throughput digital microfluidic chip based on a PCB, a driving system and a preparation method.The chip comprises a driving electrode substrate and a lower substrate.The driving electrode substrate provides a flat contact surface for micro-droplet movement, reduces micro-droplet movement resistance and residue and adhesion on the chip surface, the gap between adjacent driving electrodes is less than or equal to 100 microns, and the driving voltage for micro-droplet control is reduced.The lower substrate controls vertical addressing of the electrodes on the bonded driving electrode substrate, and on the basis of ensuring the electrode contact gap and flatness, a portable digital microfluidic chip with any large throughput can be manufactured at low cost.Based on the high scalability of active circuits and PCB chips, tens of thousands of discrete droplets can be driven in parallel on the same chip.By changing the chemical and biological components in the micro-droplets, the application can perform high-throughput analysis and synthesis tasks in chemical, biological and medical engineering applications.

The present disclosure relates to a digital microfluidics, 'DMF', system and a method for operating the same. The DMF system comprises: a first substrate unit comprising a first substrate having arranged thereon a plurality of electrodes for manipulation of a liquid volume; and a second substrate unit spaced apart from the first substrate unit in a first direction, wherein the second substrate unit comprises a second substrate having arranged thereon an organic electrochemical transistor, 'OECT', biosensor.

This invention discloses an experimental droplet routing method for digital microfluidic chips based on an improved A* algorithm. The improvement to the A* algorithm includes: incorporating the number of electrode wear cycles into the heuristic function of the A* algorithm; adding a coefficient related to the number of wear cycles, which can be modified according to the chip wear level; reducing the coefficient when chip wear is minor, prioritizing routing distance, and calculating the shortest distance as the target for route calculation; increasing the coefficient when chip wear is severe, aiming to calculate the route through areas of less worn chip and avoiding areas of severe wear; and adjusting the path after obtaining the droplet routing path, moving the repetitive wear areas at the start and end points to the middle of the path to reduce repeated wear on electrodes in the start and end areas. This invention, by improving the A* algorithm, allows droplet routing to consider electrode wear factors simultaneously, further improving the chip wear uniformity and extending the chip's lifespan.

The present application relates to the technical field of microfluidics, and provides a digital microfluidic chip, which comprises an electrode array, a driving module and a top cover arranged above the electrode array, a gap for accommodating small droplets is formed between the top cover and the electrode array, the electrode array comprises a plurality of rows of electrode array groups, each row of the electrode array groups comprises a plurality of electrodes, the driving module controls each electrode in each row of the electrode array groups to be opened in turn, and the size of the small droplets is regulated by adjusting the gap and the electrodes in the electrode array. A pixel driving method of the digital microfluidic chip is also provided. A constant temperature amplification method is also provided, which adopts the pixel driving method of the digital microfluidic chip. The GOA and MUX circuit combination design is adopted, the driving signal complexity of the electrode matrix can be greatly reduced, the stability is improved, and simple and flexible electrode driving is achieved.

This invention relates to an integrated surface acoustic wave (SAW) device, system, and method for digital microfluidic control of droplet rotation and centrifugal manipulation. The device includes a digital microfluidic region, a SAW processing region, and a droplet transition interface region located between the two. A droplet residence area is provided within the SAW processing region. After sample introduction, transport, splitting, fusion, or temporary storage within the digital microfluidic region, the droplet enters the droplet residence area via the droplet transition interface region, where it forms a rotating flow, a circulating flow, and local enrichment under the influence of an asymmetric acoustic field. After enrichment or mixing, bright-field, dark-field, or fluorescence detection can be performed using an in-situ optical detection module. After processing, the droplet returns to the digital microfluidic region for continued transport, collection, or disposal. This solution improves the continuity, automation, and on-chip integration of droplet cross-region manipulation.

Disclosed herein is a surfactant additive, ethylenediamine tetrakis(ethoxylate-block-propoxylate) tetrol with 16 ethylene oxide repeat units and 18 propylene oxide repeat units (known by its trade name as Tetronic 90R4) used as a droplet-additive, or to coat DMF driving electrode surfaces which dramatically improves the capability to work with high-protein-content liquids (e.g., whole blood) on digital microfluidic chips. This surfactant prevents protein adsorption and fouling of DMF electrode surfaces to an extent that was heretofore impossible. Specifically, this surfactant allows for the manipulation of droplets of undiluted whole blood for >1 hour per electrode (>1 50 times better than what is possible for any known additive). This improvement in handling high protein content media will revolutionize blood-based diagnostics on digital microfluidic platforms.

The invention discloses a molecular processing and mass spectrum ionization method and device of a digital micro-fluidic chip directly integrated with a nanorod array. In the device, a digital micro-fluidic system comprises a digital micro-fluidic chip and a micro-droplet driving platform, and the digital micro-fluidic chip integrated with a silicon nano-column array comprises an upper polar plate and a lower polar plate; the upper electrode plate comprises a first base layer and a conductive layer which are connected in sequence; the lower pole plate comprises a second base layer and a dielectric layer which are sequentially connected, and an electrode array is arranged between the second base layer and the dielectric layer and used for achieving liquid phase mass transfer driving; the other side of the conductive layer and the other side of the dielectric layer are respectively provided with a hydrophobic layer. According to the invention, the functionally modified nanorod array silicon wafer is embedded into the upper electrode plate of the digital micro-fluidic chip, the target object is efficiently enriched on the chip, then the upper electrode plate is put into the customized target plate, and the customized target plate is sent into the mass spectrometer for mass spectrometry, so that the loss caused by sample movement can be reduced, and the integrated process is realized. The device disclosed by the invention has the advantages of small volume sample consumption, high throughput, rapidness and the like, and shows a wide application prospect in clinical tumor screening and diagnosis.

The invention relates to a preparation method of a digital micro-fluidic chip and the digital micro-fluidic chip. The method comprises the following steps: S10, preparing a first polar plate; s20, preparing a second polar plate; s30, assembling the first polar plate and the second polar plate; the step S20 comprises the substeps of sequentially preparing a second electrode layer, a hydrophilic layer, a stripping photoresist, a starting layer and a positive photoresist on a second substrate; exposing and developing the positive photoresist, the starting layer and the stripping photoresist, and removing the positive photoresist, the starting layer and the stripping photoresist in a preset micropore pattern area to obtain a substrate structure with a photoresist microcolumn array; spin-coating a second hydrophobic layer on the substrate structure with the photoresist microcolumn array; performing gas-phase activation on the second hydrophobic layer; and removing the stripping photoresist, the starting layer, the positive photoresist and the second hydrophobic layer covering the surface of the positive photoresist to obtain a second hydrophobic layer which is arranged on the surface of the hydrophilic layer and is provided with a plurality of micropores.

The utility model discloses a digital micro-fluidic system containing a quartz crystal microbalance sensor. The digital micro-fluidic system comprises an integrated system and a main body, the integrated system comprises a constant temperature system, a microfluidic system, a quartz crystal microbalance system, a control system and a data processing system, automatic control of subsystems of the instrument is realized by using an embedded system, and integrated control of the subsystems is completed by combining system programming. A main body is designed to surround a micro-fluid channel of a micro-fluidic chip and a layout of a quartz crystal sensor, the QCM sensor is connected with the micro-fluid channel of the micro-fluidic chip, it is ensured that fluid can be in contact with the sensor through the channel, fluid flowing is accurately controlled through a peristaltic pump and the micro-fluid channel, and a sample pool and a waste liquid pool are arranged; the container is used for storing samples and collecting waste liquid; mechanical support design is carried out on an instrument support structure, and internal structure protection design is carried out on each control and interface unit.

The application discloses a digital microfluidic biological detection device based on a GaN HEMT sensor, which comprises a GaN HEMT sensor, and a reagent droplet detection area is arranged at the lower part of the GaN HEMT sensor; when a droplet carrying an antigen is put into the device, the droplet is driven by applying a voltage on the electrode to change the contact angle of the droplet; when the droplet carrying the antigen to be detected passes through the detection area, the antigen in the droplet is combined with the antibody in the detection area, and the combination causes the change of the two-dimensional electron gas concentration in the potential well; the change of the two-dimensional electron gas concentration causes the change of the current between the source and the drain of the transistor; therefore, the change of the concentration of the introduced antigen to be detected can be detected through the change of the current; compared with the prior art, the application has the advantages that the reagent amount can be accurately controlled, the consumption of the reagent is reduced, and several droplets can be individually or simultaneously controlled to complete the detection according to the specified path, and the application has great flexibility.

The application discloses a kind of magnetic digital microfluidic system and microfluidic method, the system includes droplet control unit, magnetic core coil array on-off unit, logic control unit and signal detection unit, the droplet control unit includes microfluidic platform and magnetic core coil array, the magnetic core coil array is arranged below microfluidic platform, magnetic core coil array is connected with magnetic core coil array on-off unit, the logic control unit is connected with magnetic core coil array on-off unit, signal detection unit respectively.The application utilizes magnetic core coil array, can directly drive magnetic droplet and non-magnetic droplet in microfluidic platform, and realizes a series of operations such as control, transport, merge, distribution, heating and detection to droplet, can solve the problem that existing magnetic digital microfluidic system can only be limited to drive magnetic droplet, and biological compatibility is poor.

An apparatus for forming a plurality of microdroplets from a droplet includes a substrate, a dielectric layer on the substrate and having a plurality of hydrophilic surface regions spaced apart from each other by a hydrophobic surface, and a plurality of electrodes covered by the dielectric layer. The electrodes are configured to form an electric field across the droplet in response to a voltage provided by a control circuit to move the droplet across the dielectric layer in a lateral direction while leaving a portion of the droplet on the hydrophilic surface regions to form a plurality of microdroplets on the hydrophilic surface regions.

The invention relates to the field of molecular diagnosis equipment, and discloses an NGS library preparation instrument based on a digital microfluidic technology. Comprising a rack and a top plate fixedly arranged on the rack. And the substrate is provided with an opening penetrating through the thickness direction. And the chip bearing platform is arranged in the opening and is used for bearing the digital micro-fluidic chip. And the driving plate is fixed below the substrate, is positioned below the opening area, is provided with a pin array and is in contact with a bottom electrode of the chip. The pressing and releasing mechanism comprises a first pressing and releasing part and a second pressing and releasing part, elastic abutting force is applied through an elastic assembly, so that the digital micro-fluidic chip is electrically connected with the pin array, and the abutting force can be released to release the chip. A temperature control module; and a magnetic bead control module. The preparation instrument executes multiple steps of sample treatment, temperature control, magnetic bead separation and the like in the NGS library preparation process.

Digital microfluidic (DMF) methods and apparatuses (including devices, systems, cartridges, DMF readers, etc.), and in particular DMF apparatuses and methods that may be used to safely manually add or remove fluid within a cartridge while it is actively applying DMF. Also described herein are DMF readers for use with a DMF cartridges, including those including multiple and / or redundant safety interlocks. Also described herein are DMF reader devices having a cover with active control of microfluidics on the cover while actively controlling DMF on the reader base.

A magnetic digital microfluidic system and a microfluidic method are provided. The system includes a droplet manipulation unit, a magnetic core coil array switching unit, a logic control unit, and a signal detection unit. The droplet manipulation unit includes a microfluidic platform and a magnetic core coil array. The magnetic core coil array is arranged below the microfluidic platform and is connected to the magnetic core coil array switching unit. The logic control unit is connected to the magnetic core coil array switching unit and the signal detection unit. The present disclosure utilizes a magnetic core coil array to directly drive magnetic droplets and non-magnetic droplets in a microfluidic platform, and realizes a series of operations such as droplet control, transportation, merging, distribution, heating, and detection. This can solve the problems in which existing magnetic digital microfluidic systems are limited to driving only magnetic droplets and have poor biocompatibility.

This invention provides an addressable digital microfluidic system for droplet impedance measurement and a droplet measurement and control circuit. The droplet measurement and control circuit includes an impedance detection subcircuit, a droplet driving subcircuit, a mode switching subcircuit, and a main control chip. The impedance detection subcircuit is connected to a first electrode of the digital microfluidic chip through the mode switching subcircuit. The droplet driving subcircuit is connected to multiple second electrodes of the digital microfluidic chip through the mode switching subcircuit. The mode switching subcircuit is electrically connected to the main control chip. The main control chip sends a switching command to the mode switching subcircuit to switch the mode switching subcircuit between an impedance measurement state and a droplet driving state. This allows for simultaneous impedance detection and droplet control, and improves the accuracy of droplet impedance detection in the digital microfluidic chip.

The invention discloses a method for improving digital micro-fluidic waste liquid treatment, and belongs to the field of micro-fluidic chip waste liquid treatment. The problems that in the library construction reaction process, waste liquid needs to be treated 13 times when an existing micro-fluidic chip is adopted, operation is tedious, and the test time is greatly prolonged are solved. The method comprises the following steps: step 1, setting a micro-fluidic chip structure; 2, waste liquid is treated according to the biological library building system process; comprising the following steps: step 21, first round amplification; step 22, purifying a first-round amplification product and carrying out waste liquid treatment; step 23, carrying out second round of amplification; step 24, purifying a second-round amplification product and treating waste liquid; step 25, repairing the tail end; step 26, purifying a terminal repair product and performing waste liquid treatment; step 27, connecting a sequencing joint; step 28, purifying a connection product and carrying out waste liquid treatment; and step 29, library quantification. According to the method, the waste liquid does not need to be repeatedly taken out in the biological library building system process, the operation steps are simplified, and the working time is saved.

The invention is suitable for the technical field of medical apparatus and instruments, and provides a single-person multi-target digital microfluidic detection chip based on electrowetting driving and a detection device. The detection chip comprises: a receiving member for receiving a detection sample; the storage part is provided with a solid-state reagent, and the solid-state reagent is used for being combined with a detection sample to form a liquid-state mixture; the reaction part is provided with reactants, and the reactants are used for reacting with the liquid mixture; the conveying part is used for executing at least one of two operations of conveying the detection sample to the solid reagent and conveying the liquid mixture to the reactant; the receiving piece, the storage piece, the reaction piece and the conveying piece are arranged on the chip body. The risk of reagent diffusion caused by shaking of the detection chip is reduced from the source, the risks of reagent leakage and cross contamination are reduced, and the detection safety is improved.

The invention relates to a digital flow micro-control device and a driving system, the digital flow micro-control device comprises a shell and two fine adjustment control mechanisms, the shell is provided with a containing cavity, a liquid drop operation opening communicated with the containing cavity is formed in the shell, and the two fine adjustment control mechanisms are arranged on the shell; the digital micro-fluidic chip is arranged in the shell and comprises an upper polar plate and a lower polar plate which are sequentially arranged in the height direction of the shell, the two ends of the upper polar plate are connected to the two fine adjustment control mechanisms in a one-to-one correspondence mode, and each fine adjustment control mechanism can drive one end of the upper polar plate connected with the fine adjustment control mechanism to move relative to the lower polar plate. The distance or the relative inclination angle between the upper polar plate and the lower polar plate is adjusted. By respectively adjusting the two mechanisms, not only can the overall lifting of the upper polar plate and the adjustment of the distance between the upper polar plate and the lower polar plate be realized, but also one-side lifting and / or one-side lowering can be realized, so that the inclination angle of the upper polar plate is changed.

The invention discloses an automatic liquid separation device and method based on a digital micro-fluidic chip. The device comprises an injection system consisting of a multi-channel injection pump and a catheter; a reagent storage module; and a liquid separation interface board. The multi-channel injection pump is controlled by the peripheral control module to push the reagents from the reagent storage module to the liquid separation interface plate through a catheter according to a preset sequence, and volume distribution and quantification are completed in the liquid separation interface plate. The invention has the advantages of compact structure and high quantitative precision, and is suitable for miniaturized and portable application scenarios.

A cartridge for use with an instrument for performing fluid measurements, an instrument for operating the cartridge, and a method for manufacturing and using the cartridge. [Solution] The present invention is a cartridge for use with an instrument for performing fluid measurement, the cartridge comprising: a digital microfluidic substrate having a plurality of electrowetting electrodes that operate to perform droplet operations on liquid droplets in a droplet operation gap; a top plate separated from the digital microfluidic substrate to form a droplet operation gap and having an opening for injecting liquid into the droplet operation gap; and a fiber assembly including an optical fiber probe having a sensing end that protrudes into the droplet operation gap and is positioned in close proximity to one or more electrowetting electrodes.