University of Washington

Micronics, Inc.

Elizabeth Reeves Leber

C Frederick Battrell

Buddy D Ratner

Isaac Sprague

Denise Maxine Hoekstra

John R Williford

Joan Haab

Prabha D Nair

Maximiliane Silvia Boeckl

Sabrina N Gates

Sabrina N Gunderson

Manufacturing methods and compositions are described for production of self-contained microfluidic cartridge devices with on-board reagents for molecular biological testing. Sensitive reagents are stored in dry form without lyophilization or freezing, and reconstituted at the point of use with either a biological sample or a sample eluate at the point of use. Manufacturing methods include sheet and roll fabrication processes where the reagents are printed in place and sealed within individual microfluidic cartridges before gel vitrification.

Compositions and methods for dehydrated storage of on-board reagents in microfluidic devices

In one aspect, the present invention provides hydrogels comprising polymer molecules and bridging molecules, wherein substantially all the polymer molecules are cross-linked by hydrogen bonds between polymer molecules and bridging molecules, wherein each bridging molecule is linked to at least two polymer molecules, and wherein there are substantially no covalent linkages between the polymer molecules. In some embodiments, the polymer molecules are poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and the bridging molecules are amino acids. Some embodiments of the invention provide devices comprising hydrogels, and pharmaceutical compositions comprising biologically active molecules within hydrogels. Another aspect provides methods for forming hydrogels of the invention.

Hydrogels formed by non-covalent linkages

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Seattle, WA, United States of America

Elizabeth Reeves Leber