公开(公告)号：US20180133715A1

公开(公告)日：2018-05-17

申请号：US15578455

申请日：2016-06-03

Applicant: SPHERE FLUIDICS LIMITED

Inventor： Frank F. CRAIG ,  Marian REHAK ,  David HOLMES ,  Clive A. SMITH ,  Xin LIU ,  Giuseppe BENAZZI ,  Xin LI ,  Vinayaka PAWATE

IPC: B01L3/00 ,  G01N35/08 ,  G01N15/14

CPC classification number: B01L3/502784 ,  B01L3/502761 ,  B01L2200/0652 ,  B01L2200/0673 ,  B01L2300/0627 ,  B01L2300/0864 ,  B01L2400/0487 ,  B01L2400/0644 ,  G01N15/1484 ,  G01N35/08 ,  G01N2015/1481 ,  G01N2015/149

Abstract: Instruments and cartridges for processing droplets in emulsions containing biological entities such as cells. A method of such processing comprises providing a plurality of the entities in a fluid; preparing a droplet from the fluid; determining whether the droplet contains one or more entities of said plurality of entities, or whether said droplet does not contain a said entity; sorting said droplet dependent on an outcome of the determination; and dispensing the sorted droplet into a reservoir. The dispensing may comprise identifying and extracting the sorted droplet from a first fluidic flow path of said fluid by transferring the sorted droplet from into a second fluidic flow path and then ejecting the sorted droplet into a reservoir by applying pressure to the second fluidic flow path. The droplet contents may be tracked so that the contents of an individual droplet can be sorted, selectively dispensed, and retrieved.

公开(公告)号：US20250069384A1

公开(公告)日：2025-02-27

申请号：US18936019

申请日：2024-11-04

Applicant: Sphere Fluidics Limited

Inventor： Nicholas DAYRELL-ARMES ,  David HOLMES ,  Frank F. CRAIG ,  Marian REHAK ,  Dimitris JOSEPHIDES ,  Robert SALTER ,  William WHITLEY ,  Sinan GOKKAYA ,  Raphael RUIS

IPC: G06V10/82 ,  B01L3/00 ,  G01N15/10 ,  G01N15/14 ,  G01N15/1433 ,  G06F18/2431 ,  G06T7/70 ,  G06V10/44 ,  G06V10/764 ,  G06V20/69

Abstract: ABSTRACT:
An instrument for processing droplets in a microfluidic system. The instrument captures a time sequence of images of a droplet as it passes through a channel in a microfluidic system. The instrument also processes each image of the sequence of images using a convolutional neural network to count a number of cells or other entities visible in each image the droplet. This involves processing the count of the number of cells or other entities visible in each image of the droplet to determine an estimated number of cells or other entities in the droplet. The instrument controls a microfluidic process performed on the droplet, e.g. droplet dispensing, responsive to the estimated number of cells or other entities in the droplet. The instrument uses the changing orientation and disposition of droplet contents in combination with machine learning to improve monoclonality assurance.

公开(公告)号：US20200215546A1

公开(公告)日：2020-07-09

申请号：US16625021

申请日：2018-06-21

Applicant: SPHERE FLUIDICS LIMITED

Inventor： Dimitris JOSEPHIDES ,  Marian REHAK ,  David HOLMES ,  Frank F. Craig

IPC: B01L3/00

Abstract: This invention generally relates to methods and systems for dispensing a droplet, in particular a picolitre volume droplet containing one or more entities. We disclose herein a microfluidic droplet dispensing system comprising: a droplet feed line to carry droplets for dispensing; a dispensing line to carry dispensing fluid for dispensing the droplets; a droplet outlet line coupled to a droplet outlet; a first junction having a first input to receive a flow from said droplet feed line, having a second input to receive a flow from said dispensing line and having an output to said droplet outlet line; a waste line coupled to said droplet output line between said first junction and said droplet output; a first pressure source to provide pressurised dispensing fluid to said dispensing line to eject droplets from said droplet output; a droplet dispensing valve between said first pressure source and said dispensing line to control the ejection of droplets from said droplet output; wherein the system further comprises: a second pressure source to provide pressurised dispensing fluid to a droplet protect line; a second junction having a first input from said droplet feed line, having a second input from said droplet protect line, and having an output; and a volume flow throttle coupled between the output of said second junction and the first input of said first junction to restrict a volume flow from said second junction into said first junction.