Patent ID: 7935537

Claim:
A method for processing a sample, comprising: (i) contacting a sample with (a) a first opening of a first passage, the first passage including a second opening and a valve configured to allow material from the sample to pass only from the first opening of the first passage and into a reservoir of a vacuum source, and (b) a second opening of a second passage, the second passage including a first opening and a valve configured to allow material from the sample to pass only from the reservoir and into the first opening of the second passage toward the second opening of the second passage, wherein a wall isolates the first and second passages from one another such that material cannot pass between the first and second passages except via the respective first and second openings thereof; (ii) modifying a pressure differential between the first opening of the first passage and the second opening of the first passage so that sample passes into the first passage through its first opening and exits the first passage through its second opening and into the reservoir of the vacuum source, wherein material that exits the first passage and into the reservoir comes into liquid communication with the first opening of the second passage; (iii) modifying a pressure differential between the first opening of the second passage and the second opening of the second passage so that at least some of the material from the sample that has exited the first passage passes into the second passage through its first opening and exits the second passage through its second opening.