Patent application number | Description | Published |
20140326339 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PARTICLE FOCUSING IN MICROCHANNELS - Various systems, methods, and devices are provided for focusing particles suspended within a moving fluid into one or more localized stream lines. The system can include a substrate and at least one channel provided on the substrate having an inlet and an outlet. The system can further include a fluid moving along the channel in a laminar flow having suspended particles and a pumping element driving the laminar flow of the fluid. The fluid, the channel, and the pumping element can be configured to cause inertial forces to act on the particles and to focus the particles into one or more stream lines. | 11-06-2014 |
20140356884 | Boundary Layer Suction for Cell Capture - Capturing particles includes introducing a fluid sample, which includes particles of a first type, into a first channel of a microfluidic device and flowing the fluid sample past a porous or partially porous membrane. The pores fluidly connect the first channel to a second channel, and the device further includes multiple binding moieties on a first side of the porous membrane adjacent to the first channel. The binding moieties are capable of binding to the first type of particles. Capturing particles also includes creating a pressure difference between the first and second channels to enable the fluid sample to flow from the first channel through the porous membrane into the second channel and to direct the particles toward the binding moieties, thereby capturing the first type of particles. In addition, by creating a modified capture surface that is impermeable near the walls of the channels, capture efficiencies and throughput can be increased. | 12-04-2014 |
20150232936 | Rare Cell Analysis Using Sample Splitting And DNA Tags - The present invention provides systems, apparatuses, and methods to detect the presence of fetal cells when mixed with a population of maternal cells in a sample and to test fetal abnormalities, e.g. aneuploidy. The present invention involves labeling regions of genomic DNA in each cell in said mixed sample with different labels wherein each label is specific to each cell and quantifying the labeled regions of genomic DNA from each cell in the mixed sample. More particularly the invention involves quantifying labeled DNA polymorphisms from each cell in the mixed sample. | 08-20-2015 |
20150260711 | Microfluidic Device For Cell Separation And Uses Thereof - The invention features methods for separating cells from a sample (e.g., separating fetal red blood cells from maternal blood). The method begins with the introduction of a sample including cells into one or more microfluidic channels. In one embodiment, the device includes at least two processing steps. For example, a mixture of cells is introduced into a microfluidic channel that selectively allows the passage of a desired type of cell, and the population of cells enriched in the desired type is then introduced into a second microfluidic channel that allows the passage of the desired cell to produce a population of cells further enriched in the desired type. The selection of cells is based on a property of the cells in the mixture, for example, size, shape, deformability, surface characteristics (e.g., cell surface receptors or antigens and membrane permeability), or intracellular properties (e.g., expression of a particular enzyme). | 09-17-2015 |
20150285809 | MICROFLUIDIC DEVICES FOR THE CAPTURE OF BIOLOGICAL SAMPLE COMPONENTS - Methods and systems for selectively capturing analytes, such as cells, e.g., circulating tumor cells (CTCs), from fluid samples are disclosed. The methods include contacting the sample with an analyte binding moiety that selectively binds to the analytes; optionally separating first components of the sample including a majority of the analytes bound to the binding moieties from second components of the sample using size-based separation, e.g., in a microfluidic channel; adding to the first components of the sample a plurality of binding agents under conditions that enable a plurality of the binding agents to be linked to the analyte binding moieties to form multivalent tagging agents bound to the analyte; passing the first components of the sample past a surface to which is attached a plurality of capture agents that selectively bind to the binding agents; and capturing the analytes by providing conditions that enable the multivalent tagging agents bound to the analytes to bind to one or more of the capture agents. | 10-08-2015 |
20150336096 | Sorting Particles Using High Gradient Magnetic Fields - This disclosure describes microfluidic devices that include one or more magnets, each magnet being operable to emit a magnetic field; and a magnetizable layer adjacent to the one or more magnets, in which the magnetizable layer is configured to induce a gradient in the magnetic field of at least one of the magnets. For example, the gradient can be at least 10 | 11-26-2015 |
20150344956 | Methods For The Diagnosis Of Fetal Abnormalities - The present invention relates to methods for detecting, enriching, and analyzing rare cells that are present in the blood, e.g. fetal cells. The invention further features methods of analyzing rare cell(s) to determine the presence of an abnormality, disease or condition in a subject, e.g. a fetus by analyzing a cellular sample from the subject. | 12-03-2015 |
20150369804 | CAPTURE AND RELEASE OF PARTICLES FROM LIQUID SAMPLES - Systems, methods, and devices for selective capture and release of target particles, e.g., living cells, from liquid samples, e.g., blood, are provided. The particle capture systems include a substrate; a first layer of gelatin bound to the substrate by physical adsorption, wherein the gelatin is functionalized with a plurality of first members of a binding pair; a second layer of gelatin wherein the gelatin is functionalized with a plurality of the first members of the binding pair and the second layer is bound to the first layer via a plurality of second members of the binding pair that are associated with the first members of the binding pair on both the first and the second layers; and a plurality of nanostructures bound to the second members of the binding pair and to one or more particle-binding moieties that selectively bind to the target particles. | 12-24-2015 |