The company is developing the system to provide multiplexed endpoint analysis for diagnostic applications. Rheonix uses its patented device to manipulate samples as diverse as blood, saliva, mucosal swabs and environmental sources, and sample sizes from 10 microliters to 2-3 milliliters for integrated processing from the raw sample through end-point analysis for clinical, research and environmental purposes on its system.
According to the company, once the user loads the raw sample onto the Rheonix system, all further processing, from sample preparation through readout of the final results, takes place in the disposable device with the protocols under software control by the host instrument.
Rheonix has reportedly developed this integrated system that consists of a disposable device that incorporates its patented microfluidic structures and lamination technology. The company's platform uses active diaphragm valves that regulate the transport of fluids through microfluidic systems in a monolithic device. The diaphragm valves may be used singly or in combinations that serve to pump fluids bi-directionally and selectively from single or many sources to single or many destinations in a microfluidic system.
The company was recently granted a patent ("Microfluidic Pump and Valve Structures and Fabrication Method") which it says is the first granted patent for its core device. "This patent demonstrates the continued influence that inventors Dr. Peng Zhou and Lincoln Young have exerted in the field of active microfluidic devices, and the technology’s promise for widely-available, high-value instruments," said Tony Eisenhut, Rheonix President.
"This issuance is the first to apply directly to the [our] system’s core device, which provides a versatile platform for the development of commercially-viable diagnostic products. The long-sought promise of microfluidics -- integration of all common laboratory operations on a chip to enable ‘sample in, results out’ functionality -- has great potential to become a commercial reality with devices produced by Rheonix.”
To date the company is developing its products for human in vitro molecular testing of viruses, genotyping for personalized medicine, and molecular detection of food and water borne pathogens.
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