Patent ID: 6221654
Filing Date: 2001-04-24
Classification: B01L,C12Q,G01N,Y10S

Abstract:
A device for processing a flow of polynucleotide molecules comprising a chip having a substrate and an analysis unit, wherein the analysis unit comprises:a) a main channel having a polynucleotide sample inlet, a detection region downstream of the sample inlet, and a branch point discrimination region adjacent to and downstream of the detection region, wherein on average one polynucleotide molecule at a time is placed within the detection region;(b) at least two branch channels originating at the branch point discrimination region and in communication with the main channel;(c) a detector sensitive to each polynucleotide molecule passing through the detection region; and(d) a flow control responsive to the detector and acting to direct each polynucleotide molecules at the discrimination region into a selected branch channel.