Patent ID: 8247178

Claim:
A microfluidic device for nucleic acid analysis, said device comprising a branched partitioning system comprising a) a first flow channel in fluidic communication with a fluid inlet, said fluid inlet for introduction of a sample fluid comprising a nucleic acid; b) a plurality of second flow channels branching from, and in fluidic communication with, said first flow channel; and c) a plurality of valves spaced along each second flow channel, positioned so that when said valves are closed said second flow channels are each partitioned into a plurality of equally sized adjacent fluidically isolated reaction sites, wherein each said reaction site of said plurality of reaction sites is separated from an adjacent reaction site by a single valve, wherein the isolated reaction chambers are not located at intersections of pairs of flow channels; wherein a sample fluid introduced into the inlet flows through the first flow channel into the second flow channels, and a sample fluid in a second flow channel can flow to the inlet only by passing through the first flow channel.