Patent ID: 7125711

Claim:
A multi-purpose microfluidic device for analyzing a defined volume of a biological fluid sample comprising: (a) a sample well for receiving said sample; (b) at least two metering wells in fluid communication with said sample well, each of said metering wells defining the volume of said sample to be analyzed; (c) at least one hydrophilic capillary passageway having a width of about 10–500 μm and a depth of at least 5 μm fluidly communicating with said sample well of (a) for transferring said sample from said sample well to each one of said at least two metering wells of (b) by capillary action; (d) a reagent well in fluid communication with each one of said at least two metering wells through a hydrophilic capillary passageway having a width of about 10–500 μm and a depth of at least 5 μm; (e) a hydrophilic or hydrophobic capillary stop disposed within each of said capillary passageways of (d) each of, said capillary stops having an inlet from said capillary passageway and an outlet into said capillary passageway and disposed within said capillary passageway with a portion of said capillary passageway extending from the outlet of said capillary stop to said reagent well; (f) optionally at least one conditioning well for conditioning said volume of said sample in fluid communication through a first hydrophilic capillary passageway by capillary action with one of said reagent wells and through a second hydrophilic capillary passageway by capillary action with one of said metering wells of (b); (g) optionally at least one waste well for receiving portions of said sample of (a) from said reagent wells of (d); (h) sufficient vent channels for venting air to atmosphere from said metering wells of (b), said reagent well(s) of (d), and said conditioning well(s) of (f); and wherein said sample well of (a), said metering wells of (b), said reagent wells of (d) the conditioning wells of (f), said vent channels of (h), and said capillary stop of (e) are positioned on a flat chip and capillary passageways are formed in said chip connecting said wells to each other and said wells to said vent channels, thereby providing a device for analyzing said biological fluid sample, and wherein the hydrophilicity of said capillaries of (c) and (d), is adjusted for use with said biological sample.