Droplet based screening of molecular libraries in a microfluidic device

描述（由申请人提供）：基于液滴的微流体装置的开发是由筛选与细胞、酶、核酸和其他生物分子材料的群体相互作用的大的和不同的分子库的需要驱动的。有效的筛选需要一种仪器来用单个或多个细胞、颗粒或其他生物分子封装分子库的各个元素，对内容物进行测定，可能通过添加一种或多种试剂，然后，最后，鉴定并选择性地收集含有有希望的分子的微反应器。这需要每秒10^3个元素的处理速率才能在合理的时间内对最小的库进行排序，而每秒10^5个元素的处理速率对于较大的库是理想的。通过将我们专有的微流体纳米反应器技术与基于高速电场的控制和分选相结合，这些速率是可行的。成功完成此次整合后，RainDance Technologies，Inc.将开发出一种能够在几小时而不是几周的时间内快速经济地筛选大量分子库的技术。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The development of droplet-based microfluidic devices is driven by the need to screen large and varied libraries of molecules for interactions with populations of cells, enzymes, nucleic acids, and other biomolecular materials. Efficient screening requires an instrument to encapsulate individual elements of the molecular library with single or multiple cells, particles, or other biomolecules, perform an assay on the contents, perhaps through the addition of 1 or more reagents, and then, finally, to identify and selectively collect only the microreactors containing promising molecules. This requires a processing rate of 10^3 elements per second to sort through the smallest libraries in a reasonable time while rates on the order 10^5 per second are desirable for larger libraries. These rates are feasible by combining our proprietary microfluidic nanoreactor technology with high speed electric field based control and sorting. Upon successful completion of this integration, RainDance Technologies, Inc. will have developed an enabling technology capable of rapidly and economically screening enormous molecular libraries in timescale measured in hours instead of weeks.