Positive flow control in an unvented container

Claim 1

A containment device for use in amplifying and detecting nucleic acid material comprising a pair of sheet materials secured together in such a manner so as to provide a cuvette including a reaction compartment with reagents for amplifying nucleic acid material, a detection site, flow means allowing fluid flow from said compartment to said site, reagents allowing detection at said site of amplified nucleic acid material, and a waste compartment downstream of said detection site and fluidly connected thereto to receive reagents and nucleic acid material after passage over said site, all of said compartment, detection site, and reagents being confined within said pair of sheet materials, said sheet materials being sealable after sample insertion to prevent leakage of nucleic acid material, said waste compartment comprising a pair of opposing walls that provide the major interior surface area of the compartment, each of said sheet materials defining one of said opposing walls, at least one of said opposing walls being provided with fold lines along a crease so as to have a bi-stable configuration, one of said configurations being that in which said at least one opposing wall is collapsed proximal to another of said defining opposing walls, and the other of said configurations being that in which said at least one opposing wall is expanded more distally away from said another opposing wall, so that the build-up of pressure in said waste compartment is relieved by the movement of said at least one wall from said one configuration to said other configuration.

Claim 4

A device as defined in claims 1 or 2 wherein said waste further comprises compartment side walls connected to said opposing walls so as to give to said compartment a predetermined shape when viewed in plan, and wherein said fold lines form a shape congruent with but smaller than said predetermined shape.

Claim 7

A device as defined in claims 1 or 2, and further including a storage compartment and a fluid passageway extending between said storage compartment and said detection site along a curved path, at least half of said fluid passageway being parallel to and closely adjacent to at least half of said flow means, so that a roller applied to burst said reaction compartment and said storage compartment can be moved along in a path that will also cover said at least half passageway and flow means.