Patent ID: 8147770

Claim:
A fluid processing device comprising: a microfluidic chip comprising a fluid processing passageway; a plurality of retaimnent regions. at least two of the retainment regions each being in fluid conummication with the fluid processing passageway; and at least one fluid flow modulator arranged in the fluid processing passageway and configured to dissolve when contacted with water at room temperature to open to form, or to increase in size, a fluid communication between the at least two retainment regions, wherein the fluid flow modulator comprises at least one of a polyethylene glycol material, a derivative of a polyethylene glycol material, and a combination thereof, and wherein the at least one fluid flow modulator consists of a material having the formula: R 1 -Q-(-CH 2 —) p —(—OCH 2 CH 2 —) m —(—CH 2 -) q -G-R 2 Formula 1 wherein G and Q are each independently a single bond, O, N R 1 and R 2 are each independently H, OH, NH 2 , O(C n H 2n+1 ), O(C n H 2n−1 ), CH 2 OH, —(—CH 2 CH 2 O—) n —H, CH 2 CH 2 CH 2 NH 2 , CH 2 CO 2 H, C g H 2g−1 , or C n H 2n+1 , R 9, R 10 , R 11 , R 12 , R 13 , and R 14 , are each independently O, S, or NH, p and q are each independently 1, 2, or 3, m is an integer from 1 to about 10,000, g is an integer from 2 to about 20; n is an integer from 1 to about 20.