Rheonix said that the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued Patent No 7,832,429 'Microfluidic Pump and Valve Structures and Fabrication Method,' to its microfluidic diagnostic platform Rheonix CARD (Chemistry And Reagent Device) system on 16 November 2010.
Rheonix CARD provides multiplexed endpoint analysis for a wide breadth of diagnostic applications, the company said.
The Rheonix CARD system uses active diaphragm valves that regulate the transport of fluids through microfluidic systems in a monolithic device. The diaphragm valves may be used singly or in combinations that serve to pump fluids bi-directionally and selectively from single or many sources to single or many destinations in a microfluidic system.
Rheonix uses the patented device to manipulate samples as diverse as blood, saliva, mucosal swabs and environmental sources, and sample sizes from 10 microliters to 2 – 3 milliliters for fully integrated processing from the raw sample through end-point analysis for clinical, research and environmental purposes on its Rheonix CARD system.
Once the user loads the raw sample onto the Rheonix CARD system, all further processing, from sample preparation through readout of the final results, takes place in the disposable device with the protocols under software control by the host instrument.
Rheonix has multiple issued patents and pending applications filed worldwide on its technology, its applications in various fields and its instruments that are enabled by its core technology.
Rheonix president Tony Eisenhut said that the issuance is the first to apply directly to the Rheonix CARD system’s core device, which provides a versatile platform for the development of commercially-viable diagnostic products.
“The long-sought promise of microfluidics—integration of all common laboratory operations on a chip to enable ‘sample in, results out’ functionality has great potential to become a commercial reality with devices produced by Rheonix,” Eisenhut said.