Granted Patent B2

US 8,685,754 · App. 12/393,534 · Granted Apr 1, 2014

Inventors: Michael G. Pollack (Durham, NC); Vamsee K. Pamula (Durham, NC); Vijay Srinivasan (Durham, NC); Richard B. Fair (Durham, NC)

Assignees: Advanced Liquid Logic, Inc.; Duke University

Abstract

Claims (10)

1. A method of providing a droplet in contact with a surface of a super paramagnetic bead with a reduced concentration of a substance, the method comprising:

(a) providing a paramagnetic bead in contact with a droplet comprising a starting concentration and starting quantity of the substance and having a starting volume;

(b) conducting one or more droplet operations to merge a wash droplet with the droplet provided in step (a) to yield a combined droplet; and

(c) conducting one or more droplet operations to divide the combined droplet to yield a set of droplets comprising:

(i) a droplet in contact with the paramagnetic bead having a decreased concentration of the substance relative to the starting concentration; and

(ii) a droplet which is separated from the paramagnetic bead and wherein the droplet operations are electrowetting-mediated.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein step 1(c) yields a droplet in contact with the surface having a decreased quantity of the substance relative to the starting quantity.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein step 1(c) yields a droplet in contact with the surface having a substantially decreased quantity of the substance relative to the starting quantity.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein step 1(c) yields a droplet in contact with the surface having a substantially decreased concentration of the substance relative to the starting concentration.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein step 1(c) yields a droplet in contact with the surface having a volume which is approximately the same as the starting volume.

Assignments (5)

Continuity (13)