Patents Examined by Brian J. Sines
  • Patent number: 11964276
    Abstract: Methods of fabricating a bulk acoustic wave resonator structure for a fluidic device. The methods can include a first step of disposing a first conductive material over a portion of a first surface of a substrate to form at least a portion of a first electrode, the substrate having a second surface opposite the first surface. Then, a piezoelectric material may be disposed over the first electrode. Next, a second conductive material can be disposed over the piezoelectric material to form at least a portion of a second electrode. The second conductive material extends substantially parallel to the first surface of the substrate and the second conductive material at least partially extends over the first conductive material. The overlapping region of the first conductive material, the piezoelectric material, and the second conductive material form a bulk acoustic wave resonator, the bulk acoustic wave resonator having a first side and an opposing second side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: Qorvo US, Inc.
    Inventors: Rio Rivas, Kevin McCarron, Matthew Wasilik, David Doerr
  • Patent number: 11958050
    Abstract: A system and method for automated and closed cell culture system. The system includes a disposable assembly, actuators, sensors, software/firmware and smart device App. The disposable includes fresh media, drug or reagents containers, waste container, sample out containers, cell culture flask, well, bag or bioreactor and active or passive pumping elements. The system is expanded to multiple containers cell or organ processing. In all these precisely controlling the fluids are achieved by interdigitated differential capacitance measurements. The system has provision for imaging, machine vision control, controlled over the internet, volume metering and can use wide variety of pumps for actuation. The system is programmed to perform cGMP protocols and operated as a portable instrument.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Inventor: John Collins
  • Patent number: 11951470
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides better aspiration and dispensing of fluids by an innovative mechanism by (i) offsetting the diameter of a bottom tube with a narrower top piston when the two are moved together in the same chamber to give extremely fine resolution, thereby eliminating the need for any skinny or filamentous piston, (ii) letting the bottom tube move in the chamber alone without offset to give high flow, (iii) an at-the-ready space between the tube and piston in the chamber to permit contact-free blowoff, including viscous samples, and (iv) a frame, adjustable knob and readable volume gage that let the mechanism operate as a handheld pipettor apparatus for various volumes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2024
    Inventor: Henry Donald Schwartz
  • Patent number: 11951477
    Abstract: An example method includes connecting a flow cell to an instrument. The flow cell includes a flow channel including a manifold section having a manifold section swept volume and a detection section having a detection section swept volume. A ratio of the detection section swept volume to manifold section swept volume is at least 10 to 1. A first reagent is pumped through the flow channel. A first chemical reaction is performed between the first reagent and analytes positioned in the detection section. A subsequent reagent is pumped through the flow channel to flush out the remaining reagent. A concentration of at least 99.95 percent of reagent positioned in the detection section is the subsequent reagent, after pumping a total volume of the subsequent reagent through the flow channel that is equal to or less than 2.5 times a total swept volume of the manifold section plus the detection section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2024
    Assignee: Illumina, Inc.
    Inventors: Sz-Chin Lin, Jay Taylor, Minsoung Rhee, Jennifer Foley, Wesley Cox-Muranami, Cyril Delattre, Tarun Khurana, Paul Crivelli
  • Patent number: 11944966
    Abstract: Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, an apparatus comprising: a membrane, wherein the membrane has a first side and a second side, wherein the membrane has a first pore disposed therein, wherein the first pore extends through the membrane from the first side of the membrane to the second side of the membrane, wherein the membrane has a second pore disposed therein, and wherein the second pore extends through the membrane from the first side of the membrane to the second side of the membrane; a first channel disposed on the first side of the membrane, wherein the first channel is along a first longitudinal axis; a second channel disposed on the first side of the membrane, wherein the second channel is along a second longitudinal axis, and wherein the first channel and the second channel are disposed side by side adjacent to each other; a third channel disposed on the second side of the membrane, wherein the third channel is along a third longitudinal axis, wherein the third channel is in
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
    Inventor: Aleksei Aksimentiev
  • Patent number: 11944972
    Abstract: A microfluidic device includes: a first microfluidic channel; a second microfluidic channel extending along the first microfluidic channel; and a first array of islands separating the first microfluidic channel from the second microfluidic channel, in which each island is separated from an adjacent island in the array by an opening that fluidly couples the first microfluidic channel to the second microfluidic channel, in which the first microfluidic channel, the second microfluidic channel, and the islands are arranged so that a fluidic resistance of the first microfluidic channel increases relative to a fluidic resistance of the second microfluidic channel along a longitudinal direction of the first microfluidic channel such that, during use of the microfluidic device, a portion of a fluid sample flowing through the first microfluidic channel passes through one or more of the openings between adjacent islands into the second microfluidic channel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: The General Hospital Corporation
    Inventors: Ravi Kapur, Kyle C. Smith, Mehmet Toner
  • Patent number: 11944968
    Abstract: Techniques regarding one or more microfluidic chips with integrated electronic sensors are provided. For example, one or more embodiments described herein can regard an apparatus that can comprise a conductive plug of a reference electrode structure, the conductive plug extending from within a microfluidic channel to within a reference fluid holding chamber that is in fluid isolation from the microfluidic channel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Sufi Zafar, Yuksel Temiz, Emmanuel Delamarche
  • Patent number: 11944971
    Abstract: A microfluidic device includes a particle sorting region having a first, second and third microfluidic channels, a first array of islands separating the first microfluidic channel from the second microfluidic channel, and a second array of islands separating the first microfluidic channel from the third microfluidic channel, in which the island arrays and the microfluidic channels are arranged so that a first fluid is extracted from the first microfluidic channel into the second microfluidic channel and a second fluid is extracted from the third microfluidic channel into the first microfluidic channel, and so that particles are transferred from the first fluid sample into the second fluid sample within the first microfluidic channel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: The General Hospital Corporation
    Inventors: Ravi Kapur, Kyle C. Smith, Mehmet Toner
  • Patent number: 11944969
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided to assist in developing a precision medicine approach using a microfluidic cell having a releasable, aqueous interfacial film to separate tissue channels. The approach can include a personalized medicine treatment plan. The systems and methods emulate cellular communication in a disease state in a more accurate aqueous environment and provide data on the interaction between the cells that can be used to develop a treatment for a subject in need. The systems and methods also can be used to assess the effect of a particular treatment, such as a drug therapy, radiation therapy, or a combination thereof, for example. The systems and methods can show how a particular therapy is affected by any of several known factors including, but not limited to, the sex of the subject, the age of the subject, hereditary factors or other genetic predispositions, as well as perhaps other physiological states of the subject, or a combination thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: CALIFORNIA NORTHSTATE COLLEGE OF PHARMACY, LLC
    Inventor: Fakhrul Ahsan
  • Patent number: 11940387
    Abstract: A system is provided for identifying the presence of a target molecule or ion. The system comprises a solid support, and at least one chemical reagent applied to the solid support. Each chemical reagent produces a presumptive color indication that identifies or excludes the presence of a target molecule or ion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignee: Veriteque USA, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael D. Callahan, Christian Loane
  • Patent number: 11925934
    Abstract: Microfluidic devices for cell sorting or cell fractionation are disclosed. A microfluidic device can comprise one or more inlets, a first wall and a second wall, and two or more outlets. The first and second walls can be substantially planar to each other and the first wall having can have a plurality of ridges protruding from the first wall and defining a compression gap between the ridge and a surface of the second wall. The microfluidic device can also be a cell sorting device for sorting a plurality of cells based on one or more biophysical cellular properties including size, elasticity, viscosity, and/or viscoelasticity wherein the cells are subjected to one or more compressions due to the compression gap. Also disclosed are methods for cell sorting based on a variety of biophysical cellular properties.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: Georgia Tech Research Corporation
    Inventors: Todd Sulchek, Alexander Alexeev, Gonghao Wang
  • Patent number: 11929243
    Abstract: Provided are methods for determining the apolipoprotein E (ApoE) phenotype in a sample by mass spectrometry; wherein the ApoE allele(s) present in the sample is determined from the identity of the ions detected by mass spectrometry. In another aspect, provided herein are methods for diagnosis or prognosis of Alzheimer's disease or dementia.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: QUEST DIAGNOSTICS INVESTMENTS LLC
    Inventors: Darren Weber, Nigel Clarke
  • Patent number: 11920114
    Abstract: A culture module is contemplated that allows the perfusion and optionally mechanical actuation of one or more microfluidic devices, such as organ-on-a-chip microfluidic devices comprising cells that mimic at least one function of an organ in the body. A method for pressure control is contemplated to allow the control of flow rate (while perfusing cells) despite limitations of common pressure regulators. The method for pressure control allows for perfusion of a microfluidic device, such as an organ on a chip microfluidic device comprising cells that mimic cells in an organ in the body, that is detachably linked with said assembly, so that fluid enters ports of the microfluidic device from a fluid reservoir, optionally without tubing, at a controllable flow rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: EMULATE, INC.
    Inventors: Daniel Levner, Josiah Daniel Sliz, Christopher David Hinojosa, Joshua Gomes, Jose Fernandez-Alcon
  • Patent number: 11921106
    Abstract: A sample analyzer prepares a measurement sample from a blood sample or a body fluid sample which differs from the blood sample; measures the prepared measurement sample; obtains characteristic information representing characteristics of the components in the measurement sample; sets either a blood measurement mode for measuring the blood sample, or a body fluid measurement mode for measuring the body fluid sample as an operating mode; and measures the measurement sample prepared from the blood sample by executing operations in the blood measurement mode when the blood measurement mode has been set, and measuring the measurement sample prepared from the body fluid sample by executing operations in the body fluid measurement mode that differs from the operations in the blood measurement mode when the body fluid measurement mode has been set, is disclosed. A computer program product is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: SYSMEX CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takaaki Nagai, Noriyuki Narisada, Daigo Fukuma, Masanori Imazu
  • Patent number: 11905532
    Abstract: Compositions and methods for the storage, organization, access, and retrieval of information encoded by sequence controlled polymers such as data storage nucleic acids are provided. In some embodiments, organization, storage, and/or selective retrieval of the data is facilitated by hybridization of barcode sequence of the sequence controlled polymer to the reverse complementary sequence of an oligonucleotide. The plurality of oligonucleotides can be arrayed using a known organization scheme, and selectively capture and localize the corresponding sequence controlled polymer. In some embodiments, the compositions and methods utilize recombinant bacteriophage, typically featuring a minigenome having a bacteriophage origin of replication and packaging signal separated from a data storage sequence by barcodes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
    Inventor: Tyson Robert Shepherd
  • Patent number: 11890372
    Abstract: The present invention provides an infusion preparation that is inhibited from generation of unwanted insoluble matter after mixing of two liquids of the infusion preparation in long-term storage. More specifically, the present invention provides an infusion preparation comprising two chambers separated by a communicably openable partition, a first chamber containing a first-chamber infusion comprising a fat emulsion and further comprising at least one member selected from the group consisting of amino acids that have a buffer action, divalent organic acids, and trivalent organic acids, a second chamber containing a second-chamber infusion comprising an amino acid and at least calcium as an electrolyte, wherein a total concentration of the amino acids that have a buffer action, divalent organic acids, and trivalent organic acids in the first-chamber infusion is 0.15 to 0.5 g/L, and a mixture of the first- and second-chamber infusions has a pH of 6.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2024
    Assignee: OTSUKA PHARMACEUTICAL FACTORY, INC.
    Inventors: Seiji Tani, Seiji Fujita, Teru Nakai, Yasuhiro Kiuchi, Miyuki Yamanaka, Yui Hayashi, Hiroshi Kanno, Yu Saruwatari
  • Patent number: 11891650
    Abstract: Provided herein is a fluidic cartridge having a body comprising a malleable material and a layer comprising a deformable material bonded to a surface of the body that seals one or more fluidic channels that communicate with one or more valve bodies formed in a surface of the body. The valve can be closed by applying pressure to the deformable material sufficient to crush and close off a fluidic channel in the body. Also provided are a cartridge interface configured to engage the cartridge. Also provided is a system including a cartridge interface and methods of using the cartridge and system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2024
    Assignee: INTEGENX, INC.
    Inventors: David Eberhart, William D. Nielsen, Helen Franklin, Stevan B. Jovanovich, Dennis Lehto, Kaiwan Chear, James Klevenberg, Chungsoo Charles Park, Corey M. Smith, Philip Justus Wunderle, David King
  • Patent number: 11885809
    Abstract: A method for determining a presence of at least one guest structure at a host structure. The method comprises a light-sensitive system receiving light from the host structure. The host structure hosts one or more optically active entities at at least one part of the host structure. The at least one part does not host the at least one guest structure. Furthermore, the optically active entities cause light emission from the at least one part. The method also comprises the light-sensitive system outputting a signal based on the received light a step of determining a light value based on the output signal. The light value indicates an amount of light from the host structure incident on the light-sensitive system. The method also comprises determining on the basis of the light value at least one of a quantity and a position of the at least one guest structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Inventors: Iddo Heller, Anna Elisabeth Christina Meijering, Gijs Jan Lodewijk Wuite, Erwin Johannes Gerard Peterman, Andreas Sebastian Biebricher
  • Patent number: 11879156
    Abstract: A sensor apparatus includes a substrate, a semiconductor device disposed over the substrate, the semiconductor device having a surface electrode structure, and a saccharide coating formed over the surface electrode structure. The saccharide coating can be removed prior to use. The semiconductor device can further include a well and optionally a bead disposed in the well.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2024
    Assignee: Life Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Phil Waggoner, James A. Ball, Wolfgang Hinz, Michael L. Minto, Scott Parker, David M. Cox, Alexander Mastroianni, Jeremy Gray, Marc Glazer, Kimberly Gorrell
  • Patent number: 11879820
    Abstract: A droplet-based microfluidic rheometer system and method of use for real-time viscosity monitoring of blood coagulation is disclosed. Droplets of blood samples are generated in a microfluidic rheometer, and the size of the droplets is highly correlated to the sample viscosity. The size of the droplets can be determined optically using an inverted light microscope and a camera or using electrodes. The microfluidic rheometer systems provides viscosity measurements in less than a second and consumes less than 1 ?l blood or plasma over an hour period. The viscosity measurements may be displayed and transmitted to the Internet or cloud storage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2024
    Assignee: REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
    Inventors: Yunzi Li, Kevin R. Ward, Mark A. Burns