Optical instruments and systems for forensic DNA quantitation

Inventors

Tan, Eugene • Selden, Richard F. • Turingan, Rosemary S.

Assignees

Ande Corp

Abstract

Described herein are instruments for excitation and detection of fluorophores in a plurality of functional regions in a biochip, using an excitation source and a steering element that directs a beam from the excitation source to a plurality of functional regions in the biochip, wherein the excitation source excites the fluorophores in the plurality of functional regions generating a signal that is detected such that said signal from at least one of the plurality of functional regions allows for nucleic acid quantification. Also described are systems for quantification and separation and detection using optical devices adapted for preliminary, simultaneous or sequential quantitation of nucleic acid in separate detection positions, and for the excitation and detection of multiple samples to steer both the excitation and detection beam paths to separately image each lane of a biochip.

Core Innovation

A system is disclosed that uses a biochip with multiple microfluidic systems, where each microfluidic system includes first reaction chambers for microfluidic quantitation and detection positions. The biochip also includes a separation chamber with a second detection position, enabling both quantitation and separation within the same system. The system provides a measurable characteristic that is correlated to the amount of target analytes in the quantitation chambers and separation chambers.

The system includes a quantitation system and a separation and detection system that illuminate the respective first and second detection positions with one or more light sources. Light emanating from the detection positions is collected and directed by optical elements to a light detector. The light detector includes a wavelength dispersive element configured to separate the light according to wavelength and to provide separated light to one or more detection elements, enabling simultaneous collection of detection information.

Fluorescence detection is used, where the light detector is configured to detect fluorescence from dyes labeled to biological molecules being quantitated, and each dye has a unique peak emission wavelength. A translational mirror is provided in communication with a control element and is configured to set an excitation and detection beam path for the quantitation system or an excitation and detection beam path for the separation and detection system.

In certain embodiments, the quantitation assay or method determines the amount of a measurable characteristic correlated to target analytes without prior amplification. In certain embodiments, an excitation and detection beam path is set to illuminate and interrogate detection positions in a way that supports quantitation across microfluidic regions on the biochip.

Claims Coverage

The independent claim is clm-00001. Dependent claims clm-00002 through clm-00008 further narrow or specify inventive features within the same overall system architecture. The inventive features include wavelength-dispersive fluorescence detection using dyes with unique peak emission wavelengths, simultaneous detection information collection via wavelength separation, microfluidic quantitation and separation chambers with dedicated detection positions, and a translational mirror that sets excitation and detection beam paths between quantitation and separation modes.

Across the independent claim and its dependent refinements, the core coverage is directed to a microfluidic biochip system that performs quantitation and separation, combined with wavelength dispersive fluorescence detection using dyes having unique peak emission wavelengths and simultaneously collected detection information. Additional coverage specifies use of quantitation without prior amplification and beam-path switching using a translational mirror.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications

No documented applications found