ADVANCED ACTIVE DEVICES AND METHODS FOR MOLECULAR BIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS AND DIAGNOSTICS

• Main Authors: LECLAIR, TIMOTHY L, ACKLEY, DONALD E, BUTLER, WILLIAM F, MATHER, ELIZABETH L, SWANSON, PAUL D, GRAHAM, SCOTT O
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French
• Published: 26.08.1999
• Edition: 6
• Subjects: APPARATUS FOR ENZYMOLOGY OR MICROBIOLOGY; BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS; BEER; BIOCHEMISTRY; CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL LABORATORY APPARATUS FOR GENERAL USE; CHEMISTRY; ELECTRIC SOLID STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; ELECTRICITY; ENZYMOLOGY; INFORMATION STORAGE; INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIRCHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MEASUREMENT OR ANALYSIS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MEASURING; METALLURGY; MICROBIOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING; NANOTECHNOLOGY; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL; PHYSICS; SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; SPECIFIC USES OR APPLICATIONS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; SPIRITS; STATIC STORES; TESTING; TRANSPORTING; VINEGAR; WINE

Methods of manufacture and devices for performing active biological operations utilize various structures to advantageously collect and provide charged biological materials to an array of microlocations. In one embodiment, a device includes focusing electrodes to aid in the direction and transport of materials from a collection electrode to an array. Preferably, one or more intermediate transportation electrodes are utilized, most preferably of monotonically decreasing size between the collection electrode and the array, so as to reduce current density mismatches. In another aspect, a flow cell is utilized over devices to provide containment of solution containing materials to be analyzed. In yet another embodiment, a concentric ring design is provided. Various flip-chip embodiments are disclosed.