Method and apparatus for programmable fluidic processing

摘要

A method and apparatus for microfluidic processing by programmably manipulating a packet. A material is introduced onto a reaction surface and compartmentalized to form a packet. A position of the packet is sensed with a position sensor. A programmable manipulation force is applied to the packet at the position. The programmable manipulation force is adjustable according to packet position by a controller. The packet is programmably moved according to the programmable manipulation force along arbitrarily chosen paths.

主权项

1. An apparatus for programmably manipulating a packet, the apparatus comprising:
a fluidic device comprising a reaction surface and an array, the array comprising a plurality of elements that are individually addressable; a signal generator configured to apply electrical signals to the elements to generate electrical field distributions and impart manipulation forces on a packet to programmably move the packet about the reaction surface; and a controller coupled to the signal generator and configured to adjust the programmable manipulation forces, the controller further configured to be coupled to a screen to display a bitmap corresponding to the elements of the array and to adjust the programmable manipulation forces according to user modifications to the bitmap.