Droplet based screening of molecular libraries in a microfluidic device

描述(由申请人提供)：基于液滴的微流控设备的开发是由于需要筛选与细胞、酶、核酸和其他生物分子材料群体的相互作用的大的和不同的分子库。有效的筛选需要一种仪器，用单个或多个细胞、颗粒或其他生物分子封装分子库中的单个元素，对内容物进行分析，也许是通过添加一个或多个试剂，然后，最后，识别并有选择地只收集包含有希望的分子的微反应器。这需要每秒10A3个元素的处理速度才能在合理的时间内对最小的库进行排序，而对于较大的库来说，每秒10A5量级的处理速度是理想的。通过将我们专有的微流控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。在成功完成这一整合后，RainDance技术公司将开发出一种使能技术，能够以小时而不是数周的时间尺度快速、经济地筛选巨大的分子库。

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 one or more reagents, and then, finally, to identify and selectively collect only the microreactors containing promising molecules. This requires a processing rate of 10A3 elements per second to sort through the smallest libraries in a reasonable time while rates on the order 10A5 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.