The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 04, 2017
Filed:
Aug. 23, 2011
David A. Weitz, Bolton, MA (US);
Thomas Franke, Augsburg, DE;
Achim Wixforth, Munich, DE;
Lothar Schmid, Augsburg, DE;
Jeremy Agresti, Richmond, CA (US);
Adam R. Abate, San Francisco, CA (US);
David A. Weitz, Bolton, MA (US);
Thomas Franke, Augsburg, DE;
Achim Wixforth, Munich, DE;
Lothar Schmid, Augsburg, DE;
Jeremy Agresti, Richmond, CA (US);
Adam R. Abate, San Francisco, CA (US);
President and Fellows of Harvard College, Cambridge, MA (US);
Universität Augsburg, Augsburg, DE;
Abstract
Various aspects of the present invention relate to the control and manipulation of fluidic species, for example, in microfluidic systems. In one set of embodiments, droplets may be sorted using surface acoustic waves. The droplets may contain cells or other species. In some cases, the surface acoustic waves may be created using a surface acoustic wave generator such as an interdigitated transducer, and/or a material such as a piezoelectric substrate. The piezoelectric substrate may be isolated from the microfluidic substrate except at or proximate the location where the droplets are sorted, e.g., into first or second microfluidic channels. At such locations, the microfluidic substrate may be coupled to the piezoelectric substrate (or other material) by one or more coupling regions. In some cases, relatively high sorting rates may be achieved, e.g., at rates of at least about 1,000 Hz, at least about 10,000 Hz, or at least about 100,000 Hz, and in some embodiments, with high cell viability after sorting.