210 results about "Patch clamp" patented technology

Apparatus and methods are provided for analysis of individual particles in a microfluidic device. The methods involve the immobilization of an array of particles in suspension and the application of experimental compounds. Such methods can also include electrophysiology studies including patch clamp recording, electroporation, or both in the same microfluidic device. The apparatus provided includes a microfluidic device coupled to a multi-well structure and an interface for controlling the flow of media within the microchannel device.

PCT No. PCT/EP95/02204 Sec. 371 Date Apr. 25, 1997 Sec. 102(e) Date Apr. 25, 1997 PCT Filed Jun. 7, 1995 PCT Pub. No. WO96/13721 PCT Pub. Date May 9, 1996Apparatus for carrying out patch clamp technique utilized in studying the effect of certain materials on ion transfer channels in biological tissue, and more particularly patch clamp apparatus utilizing an autosampler, such as those utilized with HPLC apparatus, to provide high throughput, is disclosed. The invention additionally includes novel microperfusion chamber assemblies capable of utilizing only small amounts of material to be tested and only small amounts of liquid carrier, thereby enabling many tests to be completed in a short period of time. The invention more broadly relates to a novel electrophysiology drug handling and application set up for screening of chemical substances while providing high throughput and requiring only low volume of solutions and samples to be tested. The invention also comprises several novel procedures for utilizing the apparatus of the invention.

A Microscope Imaging System (CMIS) with intelligent controls is disclosed that provides techniques for scanning, identifying, detecting and tracking microscopic changes in selected characteristics or features of various surfaces including, but not limited to, cells, spheres, and manufactured products subject to difficult-to-see imperfections. The practice of the present invention provides applications that include colloidal hard spheres experiments, biological cell detection for patch clamping, cell movement and tracking, as well as defect identification in products, such as semiconductor devices, where surface damage can be significant, but difficult to detect. The CMIS system is a machine vision system, which combines intelligent image processing with remote control capabilities and provides the ability to auto-focus on a microscope sample, automatically scan an image, and perform machine vision analysis on multiple samples simultaneously.

The present invention provides novel biochips, biochip-based devices, and device configurations that can be used for ion transport measurement. The chips, devices, and designs of the present invention are particularly suited to high-throughput assays such as compound screening assays using patch clamping techniques. The invention includes high-density biochips made by novel methods and methods of making high density biochips, and also provides novel upper chamber configurations and fluidics designs for upper chambers of ion transport measurement devices that can be used in high throughput patch clamp assays. The present invention also includes methods of using ion transport measuring chips and devices of the present invention.

A method of forming extremely small pores in glass or a similar substrate, useful, for example, in patch clamp applications, that employs a backer plate to contain energy of a laser-induced ablation through the front surface of the substrate so as to create a rear surface shock wave providing a fire polishing of the exit aperture of the pore such as produces improved sealing with cell membranes.

A system for high-throughput analysis of membranous samples having ion channels including at least one membranous sample, a multi-compartment structure including an extracellular chamber, an opposing intracellular chamber and a partition separating the extracellular and intracellular chambers, the partition having a plurality of apertures fluidly and electrically coupling the extracellular and intracellular chambers, wherein at least one of the apertures is sealed by the at least one membranous sample, and another of the apertures is unsealed, a electric source configured to apply a current between the extracellular and intracellular chambers, wherein a portion of the current travels through the unsealed aperture, and a current sensor configured to measure the current between the extracellular and intracellular chambers. A method of using the system is also disclosed.

A polymeric material such as PDMS is molded into an electrode structure containing a micron-size aperture for receiving and forming a giga-ohm seal with a biological membrane One end of a tube is filled with uncured polymeric material and pressed against a support surface to prevent drainage. A conventional micropipette having a size suitable for sliding through the tube is introduced, tip first, into the tube and is allowed to fall through the polymeric material and rest against the support surface. The assembly is heated to cure the polymer and the micropipette is removed from the tube, thereby leaving a polymeric plug at the end of the tube with an aperture suitable in shape and size for patch-clamp giga-ohm seal electrode applications. A multi-well tray with a polymeric electrode plug in each well is constructed using the same approach.

Devices having ultra-smooth pores useful in patch clamping experiments, and methods for fabricating thereof are provided.

Disclosed is a device and a process for examining cells using the patch-clamp method. A plane arrangement is used of a first number of micro-cuvettes for receiving cells and a plane arrangement of a second number of micro-pipettes which can be positioned in relation to the plane arrangement of micro-cuvettes in such a manner that a multiplicity of cells located in the micro-curvettes can be examined simultaneously.

A method of forming extremely small pores in a substrate that is used, for example, in patch clamp applications is provided that employs an energy absorbing material beyond a back side of the substrate to allow a laser to be focused adjacent the exit side of the substrate so as to generate a pore through the substrate and can also form a crater in the back side of the substrate and in which the pore may propagate from the crater in a drilling direction that can oppose a laser transmission direction.

The cell-delivery unit of a high-throughput electrophysiological testing system is implemented as a reusable movable unit suitable for repetitive delivery of cells to a disposable, multi-aperture patch-clamp tray. An electric field emanating from the patch aperture is used to align the dispenser with the aperture. A set of electrodes in the nozzle of the dispenser is used to detect the electric field and effect the alignment. According to another aspect of the invention, dielectrophoretic fields produced by sets of electrodes in the nozzle form a retaining cage that is used first to suspend a test cell directly above the patch aperture and then to urge the cell toward it. A movable cell sorter may also be coupled to the cell-delivery unit.

The invention relates to the fields of genetics and molecular biology, and provides a detection and acquisition system for solid-state nano-pore nucleic acid sequencing electric signals. The system comprises a current-voltage conversion circuit, a conditioning circuit and a base characteristic signal data acquisition circuit which are successively connected to one another; the current-voltage conversion circuit is used for converting characteristic current signals into voltage signals, the characteristic current signals are generated by passing bases through solid-state nano-pores under the driving of an electric field, the conditioning circuit is used for amplifying and filtering the voltage signals, and the base characteristic signal data acquisition circuit is used for longtime continuously acquiring output signals of the conditioning circuit and outputting acquisition data to a computer for processing. The system overcomes the disadvantages of detection of electric signals in a solid-state nano-pore nucleic acid sequencing in a patch clamp system, employs detection channels which are mutually independent with one another and different gains aiming at four kinds of bases, realizes detection and acquisition of greatly changeable pA-nA grade current signals, improves the speed and the resolution of base characteristic current signal acquisition, and thereby increasing the identification precision.

The invention discloses a light stimulation device, which can be applied to the fields of biology, chemistry, life sciences and the like. The structure of the device is that a laser, a scanning unit and a lens are arranged sequentially and are coincident with the center of an optical axis; the center of the scanning unit is positioned on an object focal plane of the lens; and the scanning unit comprises two acousto-optic deflection devices arranged orthogonally. The device adopts the acousto-optic deflection devices as the scanning elements and can carry out high-speed random light stimulation on cell biological samples comprising nerve cells, tissues and the like so as to carry out various psychological research. The device adopts the optical fiber and the optical fiber bundle to guide light to make the system miniaturized and convenient for integration, and is very convenient to carry out cooperative work with other systems such as the microscope and the patch clamp.

The invention relates to an apparatus and a method for rapidly assessing a nano-material on biological security of a breathing system, the apparatus comprises a glass microprobe, an Ag/AgCl electrode placed in the glass microprobe, a reference Ag/AgCl electrode, a culture dish with cells and cell culture fluid, a patch clamp preposed current power amplifier, a patch clamp digital-analog/analog-to-digital converter, a SICM negative feedback scanning control circuit and a SICM high precision XYZ three dimensional piezoelectricity ceramic scanner. The method comprises the following steps: using a SICM technology for detecting the surface three dimensional structure of an in-vivo biological sample under the physiological liquid state culture condition, the change of microscopic appearance of cell surface before adding nano-material on the vivo-cell and after adding nano-material on the vivo-cell can be observed; influence of nano-material on vivo-cell function can be researched, a traditional patch clamp technology is employed, the biological security of the nano-material can be assessed by recording the voltaic change of the ion channels before adding the nano-material and after adding the nano-material. The apparatus and method of the invention have the advantages of easy realization and rapidity by using combination of SICM and the patch clamp technology, the security of the nano-material can be assessed from the structure and function.

A compensated patch-clamp system for polynucleotide sequencing and other applications.

The invention provides a radiator structure which is used in a plurality of right-angle type heating element. The radiator structure includes a radiator piece and a clamping part. The radiator structure has a supporting plate. One end of the clamping part has a plurality of spring patches, anther end of the clamping part is fixed on the supporting plate, the spring patch clamp the right-angle type heating element for adhibiting the supporting plate.

The present invention relates to biotechnology, and is especially optical forceps method of controlling the hole passing rate of single chain nucleic acid. The method includes the following steps: 1. capturing single chain DNA or RNA connected magnetic bead with optical forceps in the negative pole of electrophoresis tank; 2. separating the two poles of the electrophoresis tank with film possessing single nanometer hole so as to perform ion exchange only through the nanometer hole; and 3. turning on the power source for the current to draw the free end of the DNA towards the positive pole, controlling the moving speed of the optical forceps in 0.5-1 base/ms to control the motion of DNA, recording the electric signal during penetrating the nanometer hole with the patch clamp and converting the electric signal into sequence information in the computer. The present invention is superior to available technology, which has too fast nucleic acid speed for patch clamp to recognize.

The invention relates to a phase modulation imaging mode scanning device of an SICM. The scanning device comprises a signal generator, a phase-locked amplifier, a patch clamp amplifier, a controller, a probe, an XY nanometer platform and a Z-direction nanometer piezoelectric ceramic. The signal generator, the patch clamp amplifier, the phase-locked amplifier and the controller are connected in sequence; the signal generator is connected with the phase-locked amplifier; and the patch clamp amplifier is connected with the probe. The method comprises the following steps: the signal generator outputs two paths of AC signals to the phase-locked amplifier and the patch clamp amplifier respectively; the compensation capacitance of the patch clamp amplifier is adjusted; the phase-locked amplifier extracts current component and feeds back the amplitude to the controller; and the controller controls the height of the probe in real time according to the amplitude, and scanning of a sample is realized. According to the phase modulation imaging mode scanning device and method, only the alternating current component under some frequency is extracted to serve as the feedback value, so that the defects of DC drifting and easy electrical noise influence under a DC mode and the like can be overcome; and compared with a conventional AC mode, the method realizes higher modulation frequency, and the purpose of accelerating scanning can be realized.

A system for carrying out fast perfusion for the patch clamp techniques useful in studying the effect of compounds on ion transfer channels in biological tissue is disclosed. The invention additionally includes microperfusion chamber assemblies capable of utilizing small amounts of material to be tested and small amounts of liquid carrier, thereby enabling multiple tests to be completed in a short period of time. The invention more broadly relates to an electrophysiology drug handling and application set up for screening chemicals such as drugs while providing high throughput and low volumes of solutions and samples.