Abstract: A self-contained delivery device for delivery a selected volume of stored electrolyte solution at selected time intervals is disclosed. The device includes a housing having a delivery port, a chamber containing an upstream supply reservoir for holding a quantity of electrolyte solution, a downstream delivery reservoir for receiving electrolyte solution from the supply reservoir and, disposed between the two reservoirs, a membrane having a plurality of flow-through channels extending between the two reservoirs. A pair of electrodes placed in the chamber on either side of the membrane and controlled by a controller contained within the housing for pumping selected quantities of the electrolyte solution at selected time intervals. The device includes a chamber, and a membrane disposed in said chamber and having a channel extending between an upstream chamber region, where the said channel has a selected minimum cross-sectional dimension in the range between 2 and 100 nm.

Abstract: A spectrally resolvable set of rhodamine dyes are provided for use in the chain termination method of nucleic acid sequencing. A different rhodamine dye from the group consisting of tetramethylrhodamine, rhodamine X, rhodamine 6G, and rhodamine 110 is attached to the base of each of the dideoxynucleotides used in the sequencing method by way of an alkynylamino linker. Preferably, the labeled dideoxynucleotides are incorporated into the growing DNA chains by Taq DNA polymerase.

Abstract: The compounds of the invention include novel linking agents comprising 2-substituted-3-protected-1,3,2-oxazaphosphacycloalkanes and their phosphoramidite precursors. The compounds of the invention further include conjugates of the above linking agents with oligonucleotides and polymer supports. The compounds of the present invention are useful for linking organic moieties, such as fluorescent or chromogenic dyes, to polymer supports and oligonucleotides, particularly single- and double-stranded DNA and RNA fragments.

Abstract: The invention provides a method for diagnosis of genetic abnormalities or other genetic conditions which can be readily automated. The method is used to determine the presence or absence of a target sequence in a sample of denatured nucleic acid and entails hybridizing the sample with a probe complementary to a diagnostic portion of the target sequence (the diagnostic probe), and with a probe complementary to a nucleotide sequence contiguous with the diagnostic portion (the contiguous probe), under conditions wherein the diagnostic probe remains bound substantially only to the sample nucleic acid containing the target sequence. The diagnostic probe and contiguous probe are then covalently attached to yield a target probe which is complementary to the target sequence, and the probes which are not attached are removed.