Patent ID: 9050606
Filing Date: 2015-06-09
Classification: B01L,B03C,G01N

Abstract:
1. A method of washing beads, the method comprising: (a) providing the beads in a sample droplet comprising a target substance on a droplet operations substrate within a magnetic field, the droplet operations substrate comprising a path of electrowetting electrodes; (b) retaining the beads using the magnetic field while transporting the sample droplet away from the beads by sequentially activating a series of the electrowetting electrodes selected to cause the sample droplet to be transported away from the beads, causing the beads to be snapped off from the sample droplet as the sample droplet is transported away from the beads, yielding a supernatant droplet and leaving behind a daughter droplet comprising substantially all of the magnetically responsive beads, wherein an electrowetting electrode underlying the beads remains deactivated while transporting the sample droplet away from the beads; and (c) subjecting the daughter droplet to a merge-and-split bead washing protocol.