Sphere Fluidics Limited

Cambridge Enterprise Limited

Sdix, LLC

Xin Liu

Xin Li

Clive Adrian Smith

Frank F Craig

Graeme Whyte

Karine Enesa

Michael Stuart Hazell

Richard Francis Day

Marian Rehak

Alexandra Clay

David Holmes

Robert Frank Marchington

Ross Stewart Chambers

Giuseppe Benazzi

Vinayaka Pawate

Tony R Joaquim

Lewis Joe Stafford

Vinayaka C Pawate

Instruments and cartridges for processing droplets in emulsions containing biological entities such as cells. A method of such processing comprises providing a plurality of the entities in a fluid; preparing a droplet from the fluid; determining whether the droplet contains one or more entities of said plurality of entities, or whether said droplet does not contain a said entity; sorting said droplet dependent on an outcome of the determination; and dispensing the sorted droplet into a reservoir. The dispensing may comprise identifying and extracting the sorted droplet from a first fluidic flow path of said fluid by transferring the sorted droplet from into a second fluidic flow path and then ejecting the sorted droplet into a reservoir by applying pressure to the second fluidic flow path. The droplet contents may be tracked so that the contents of an individual droplet can be sorted, selectively dispensed, and retrieved.

Methods for processing droplets containing biological entities

A microfluidic structure for spacing out and aligning entities in an aqueous suspension is provided. The structure comprises: a channel for guiding entities in an aqueous suspension; a first comb of first inlets arranged on a first side of the channel for introducing a spacing medium into the channel; and a second comb of second inlets arranged on a second side of the channel for introducing the spacing medium into the channel; wherein the first side is opposite the second side, and wherein one of the first inlets has a corresponding, respective one of the second inlets at a substantially similar longitudinal position along the channel.

Microfluidic structures

A method of label-free cell or particle sorting in a microfluidic device includes providing a stream of aqueous droplets in oil in a channel of the microfluidic device, wherein at least some of the droplets include cells or particles and illuminating the stream from a first direction. Then, one detects scattered light from cells or particles within said aqueous droplets in a second direction. Next, one determines a number of the cells or particles in each droplet from the scattered light and sorts the aqueous droplets into differentiated streams. Notably, the refractive index of said oil is modified to closely match a refractive index of the aqueous droplets to reduce light scattered from boundaries of the droplets. A volume of the droplets can also controlled.

Microfluidic devices and systems

The present invention provides an emulsion for sorting droplets in a microfluidic device, the emulsion comprising:

Emulsion

A flow cell for a microfluidic device can include a chamber, first microfluidic entry and exit channels, second microfluidic entry and exit channels, a first electrode, and a second electrode. A microfluidic device can include a microfluidic channel, a laser to excite fluorescent material, and a detector to detect fluorescence emission. Methods of merging a droplet from an emulsion in to a second stream of fluid and of detecting a content of a droplet in a stream are further disclosed.

Microfluidic systems

Growing community of inventors

Babraham Cambridge, United Kingdom

Xin Liu