Microfluidic Analysis System
A thermal cycling device ( 3 ) device a number of fixed thermal zones ( 11, 12, 13 ) and a fixed conduit ( 10 ) passing through the thermal zones. A controller maintains each thermal zone including its section of conduit ( 10 ) at a constant temperature. A series of droplets flows through the conduit ( 10 ) so that each droplet is thermally cycled, and a detection system detects fluorescence from droplets at all of the thermal cycles. The conduit is in a single plane, and so a number of thermal cycling devices may be arranged together to achieve parallelism. The flow conduit comprises a channel ( 17 ) and a capillary tube ( 10 ) inserted into the channel. The detection system may perform scans along a direction to detect radiation from a plurality of cycles in a pass.
1 . A microfluidic analysis system comprising:
a thermal cycling device, the device comprising:
a heating portion,
a cooling portion,
a channel for receiving a sample, the channel comprising a serpentine portion and a non-serpentine portion, the non-serpentine portion comprising an isothermal zone, and the serpentine portion comprising a plurality of cycles, each cycle configured to have varying temperatures along the cycle, and
a controller for maintaining the temperatures of the serpentine portion and non-serpentine portion.
2 . The microfluidic analysis system of claim 1 , wherein the channel is in a single plane.
3 . (canceled)
4 . The microfluidic analysis system of claim 1 , wherein the channel is configured to receive a tube.
5 . The microfluidic analysis system of claim 1 , wherein the channel comprises a tube.
6 . The microfluidic analysis system of claim 5 , wherein the tube has a circular cross-section.
7 . A microfluidic analysis system of claim 1 , further comprising a detection system for detecting fluorescence in the channel.
8 . (canceled)
9 . The microfluidic analysis system of claim 7 , wherein the detection system comprises optics for focusing incident light radiation.
10 . The microfluidic analysis system of claim 7 , wherein the detection system comprises optics for filtering incident radiation.
11 . The microfluidic analysis system of claim 7 , wherein the detection system comprises optics for filtering emitted radiation.
12 . The microfluidic analysis system of claim 7 , wherein the detection system performs scans along a direction to detect radiation from at least one of the plurality of cycles.
13 . The microfluidic analysis system of claim 7 , wherein the detection system performs simultaneous detection of emitted light from a plurality of cycles.
14 . (canceled)
15 . (canceled)
16 . The microfluidic analysis system of claim 1 , wherein the channel passes through the non-serpentine portion for a length before passing through the serpentine portion.
17 . The microfluidic analysis system of claim 1 , wherein the non-serpentine portion is a hot isothermal zone.
18 . (canceled)
19 . (canceled)
20 . The microfluidic analysis system of claim 1 , wherein the channel is in a serpentine pattern of multiple folds, each fold extending through a plurality of temperatures.
21 . The microfluidic analysis system of claim 1 , wherein the system comprises a plurality of thermal cycling devices arranged in parallel.
22 . The microfluidic analysis system of claim 21 , wherein the thermal cycling devices are interconnected to form a physical unit.
23 . (canceled)
24 . A thermal cycling device comprising:
a channel for receiving a sample, the channel comprising a serpentine portion and a non-serpentine portion, the non-serpentine portion comprising an isothermal zone, and the serpentine portion comprising a plurality of folds, wherein the channel portion between each fold is configured to have varying temperatures along the channel portion;
a heating element for heating at least a portion of the channel;
a cooling element for heating at least a portion of the channel, and
a controller for maintaining the temperatures of the serpentine portion and non-serpentine portion.
25 . A thermal cycling device comprising:
a heating portion,
a cooling portion,
a channel for receiving a sample, the channel comprising a serpentine portion and a non-serpentine portion, the serpentine portion comprising a plurality of cycles, each cycle configured to have varying temperatures along the cycle;
a controller for maintaining the temperatures of the channel, and
a detection system for detecting electromagnetic radiation for at least one of the plurality of thermal cycles.