Princeton University has received US Patent No. 7,216,660, “Method and device for controlling liquid flow on the surface of a microfluidic chip.” The patent claims a method and device for routing, mixing, or reacting droplets or liquid microstreams along the surface of a flat substrate. The flow of liquid microstreams or microdroplets along the designated pathways is confined by chemical surface patterning. Individually addressable heating elements, which are embedded in the substrate, can be used to generate flow via thermocapillary effects or to trigger or quench chemical reactions. The device can be used for microfluidic applications or as a surface reactor or biosensor, among other applications, according to the patent’s abstract.
Corning has received US Patent No. 7,217,512, “Reagent and method for attaching target molecules to a surface.” The patent claims a method and reagent composition for the attachment of target molecules onto the surface of a substrate, such as microwell plates, tubes, beads, microscope slides, silicon wafers, or membranes. In one embodiment, the method is used to immobilize nucleic acid probes onto plastic materials such as microwell plates for use in hybridization assays.
Applera has received US Patent No. 7,217,518, “Fluorescence polarization assay.” The patent claims a method for detecting an analyte in a sample. A fluorophore-labeled aptamer bound to a solid support is contacted with the sample and illuminated with polarized light. The fluorescence anisotropy of the fluorophore is then measured and the presence of the analyte is identified when the fluorescence anisotropy value is greater than an anisotropy value obtained in the absence of the sample.
Affymetrix has received US Patent No. 7,217,521, “Splicing factor target identification.” The patent claims a method of identifying one or more RNA transcripts that are bound by a splicing factor by obtaining a nucleic acid sample comprising pre-mRNA; contacting the nucleic acid sample with an array of nucleic acid probes to generate array-bound pre-mRNA, where the array comprises probes that are complementary to a plurality of introns; contacting the array-bound pre-mRNA with a splicing factor to allow formation of complexes comprising the splicing factor and array-bound pre-mRNA; and identifying one or more probes of the array that are in a complex comprising the splicing factor to identify one or more pre-mRNA that is bound by the splicing factor.