Patent 7189580 was granted and assigned to Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation on March, 2007 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A method is provided for pumping fluid through a channel of a microfluidic device. The channel has an input port of a predetermined radius and an output port of a predetermined radius. The channel is filled with fluid and a pressure gradient is generated between the fluid between the input port and the fluid at the output port. As a result, fluid flows through the channel towards the output port.