Fluidigm Corporation

Michael Lee

Gang Sun

Greg Harris

Colin Jon Taylor

Emerson Chueng Quan

Gajus Worthington

Gregory Harris

James Montgomery

Christopher G Cesar

Yong Yi

Christopher Ceasar

A biological substrate, e.g., microfluidic chip. The substrate includes a rigid substrate material, which has a surface region capable of acting as a handle substrate. The substrate also has a deformable fluid layer coupled to the surface region. One or more well regions are formed in a first portion of the deformable fluid layer and are capable of holding a fluid therein. The one or more channel regions are formed in a second portion of the deformable fluid layer and are coupled to one or more of the well regions. An active region is formed in the deformable fluid layer. At least three fiducial markings are formed within the non-active region and disposed in a spatial manner associated with at least one of the well regions. A control layer is coupled to the fluid layer.

Method and system for microfluidic device and imaging thereof

A method for producing an image of an object within a chamber of a microfluidic device includes providing the microfluidic device having x, y, and z dimensions and a chamber depth center point located along the z dimension. The chamber depth center point is located a known z dimension distance from a fiducial marking embedded within the microfluidic device. The method also includes placing the microfluidic device within an imaging system that includes an optical device capable of detecting the fiducial marking. The optical device defines an optical path axially aligned with the z dimension and has a focal plane perpendicular to the optical path. When the focal plane is moved along the optical path, the fiducial marking is maximally detected when the focal plane is at the z depth in comparison to when the focal plane is not substantially in-plane with the z depth.

The present invention generally relates to microfluidics and more particularly to the design of customized microfluidic systems using a microfluidic computer aided design system. In one embodiment of the present invention a microfluidic circuit design method is provided. The method includes developing synthesizable computer code for a design. Next, a microfluidic circuit schematic, including a plurality of symbols for microfluidic components, is generated either interactively or using the synthesizable computer code. The microfluidic circuit schematic is then functionally simulated. The microfluidic components are placed and routed on a template to form a physical layout. Then the physical layout is physically simulated using dynamic simulation models of the microfluidic components; and the physical layout is written to a layout file.

Microfluidic design automation method and system

The present invention generally relates to design automation techniques and more particularly to the design of customized microfluidic systems using a microfluidic computer aided design system. In one embodiment of the present invention the system includes a synthesis module for synthesizing software of a design into a component level description of the design. The design has a plurality of microfluidic components, and the component level description has symbols associated with the plurality of microfluidic components. The system further includes a design capture module, including a schematic entry tool, for placing and connecting the symbols on a schematic according to the design; and a functional analysis module for functionally simulating selected symbols of the schematic.

Computer aided design method and system for developing a microfluidic system

The present invention provides for the design of a microfluidic system, including a microfluidic chip or circuit, using an object oriented microfluidic computer aided design system. In an embodiment of the present invention, in a computer system having a computer memory and an object-oriented environment, a method for physically laying out a microfluidic circuit, having a plurality of microfluidic components is provided. First, a first symbol object representing a microfluidic component is placed, where the first symbol object includes a fluid channel object which represents a first fluid channel of the microfluidic component. Next, a connecting fluid channel object on a channel layer is placed, where the connecting fluid channel object represents a second fluid channel used to connect two microfluidic components of the plurality of microfluidic components. The fluid channel object is then linked to the connecting fluid channel object, where the linking represents connecting the first fluid channel to the second fluid channel.

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Lake Oswego, OR, United States of America

Michael Lee