Rohm of Kyoto, Japan, has received US Patent No. 8,377,389, "Microfluidic circuit." A method of fabricating a microfluidic circuit is provided. The circuit includes a microchannel that is located at the bottom face of a light-transmissive substrate or at the top of the light-absorptive substrate, which are stacked together. A light attentuation region is formed on the light-transmissive substrate that is capable of transmitting light toward the microchannel when light is directed at it.
Alcatel Lucent of Paris has received US Patent No. 8,377,702, "Detection apparatus for biological materials and methods of making and using the same." Two sets of test sites are formed on the interior of a well, and are configured to detect portions of unidentified amino acid-containing molecules. The two sets of sites are exposed to fluid containing such molecules, and the bonding signatures of each set of sites are compared to determine or exclude the presence of certain molecules.
Agilent Technologies of Santa Clara, Calif., has received US Patent No. 8,380,441, "Systems for producing chemical array layouts." The system includes an input manager for receiving array request information from a user; a processing module that includes an array layout developer, where the array layout developer includes a memory containing rules relating to array layout design, and where the array layout developer is configured to develop an array layout based on the application of one or more of the rules to information that includes array request information received from a user; and an output manager for providing a first version of an array layout to a user. According to the patent, layout rules contained in the memory may exist for randomizing probe content on an array and designing arrays that have desired properties for particular array-based applications such as applications that require specific binding to target sequences.