Patent ID: 7303727

Claim:
A microfluidic device, comprising: a body structure comprising: a substrate comprising one or more microscale cavities and at least one flexible capillary element, said at least one capillary element extending from the substrate, said at least one capillary element in fluid communication with at least one of the one or more microscale cavities, said at least one capillary element comprising a tapered spray tip, wherein a segment of said capillary element or at least one of said microscale cavities comprises a conductive coating; a fluid direction component operably connected to the body structure, which fluid direction component is configured to introduce selected aliquots of a fluidic sample into the tapered spray tip from a sample source located external to the body structure of the microfluidic device and spray the selected aliquots from the tapered spray tip proximal to or within a sample destination; and at least one device handling system operably connected to the device, said device handling system comprising at least one controller capable of flexing the tapered spray tip of the capillary element between the sample source and the sample destination.