4320results about "Electrodialysis" patented technology

A two-phase electrophoretic medium comprises a continuous phase and a discontinuous phase. The discontinuous phase comprises a plurality of droplets, each of which comprises a suspending fluid and at least one particle disposed within the suspending fluid and capable of moving through the fluid upon application of an electric field to the electrophoretic medium. The continuous phase surrounds and encapsulates the discontinuous phase. The discontinuous phase comprises at least about 40 percent by volume of the electrophoretic medium.

The present invention provides novel microfluidic substrates and methods that are useful for performing biological, chemical and diagnostic assays. The substrates can include a plurality of electrically addressable, channel bearing fluidic modules integrally arranged such that a continuous channel is provided for flow of immiscible fluids.

A microfluidic method and device for focusing and / or forming discontinuous sections of similar or dissimilar size in a fluid is provided. The device can be fabricated simply from readily-available, inexpensive material using simple techniques.

Modular fluidic microchips, systems integrating such microchips, and associated preparative and analytical methods are presented.

The present invention provides control methods, control systems, and control software for microfluidic devices that operate by moving discrete micro-droplets through a sequence of determined configurations. Such microfluidic devices are preferably constructed in a hierarchical and modular fashion which is reflected in the preferred structure of the provided methods and systems. In particular, the methods are structured into low-level device component control functions, middle-level actuator control functions, and high-level micro-droplet control functions. Advantageously, a microfluidic device may thereby be instructed to perform an intended reaction or analysis by invoking micro-droplet control function that perform intuitive tasks like measuring, mixing, heating, and so forth. The systems are preferably programmable and capable of accommodating microfluidic devices controlled by low voltages and constructed in standardized configurations. Advantageously, a single control system can thereby control numerous different reactions in numerous different microfluidic devices simply by loading different easily understood micro-droplet programs.

Methods are provided for manipulating droplets. The methods include providing the droplet on a surface comprising an array of electrodes and a substantially co-planer array of reference elements, wherein the droplet is disposed on a first one of the electrodes, and the droplet at least partially overlaps a second one of the electrodes and an intervening one of the reference elements disposed between the first and second electrodes. The methods further include activating the first and second electrodes to spread at least a portion of the droplet across the second electrode and deactivating the first electrode to move the droplet from the first electrode to the second electrode.