56021results about "Component separation" patented technology

An analytical test device useful for example in pregnancy testing, comprises a hollow casing (500) constructed of moisture-impervious solid material, such as plastics materials, containing a dry porous carrier (510) which communicates indirectly with the exterior of the casing via a bibulous sample receiving member (506) which protrudes from the casing such that a liquid test sample can be applied to the receiving member and permeate therefrom to the porous carrier, the carrier containing in a first zone a labelled specific binding reagent is freely mobile within the porous carrier when in the moist state, and in a second zone spatially distinct from the first zone unlabelled specific binding reagent for the same analyte which unlabelled reagent is permanently immobilized on the carrier material and is therefore not mobile in the moist state, the two zones being arranged such that liquid sample applied to the porous carrier can permeate via the first zone into the second zone, and the device incorporating means, such as an aperture (508) in the casing, enabling the extent (if any) to which the labelled reagent becomes bound in the second zone to be observed. Preferably the device includes a removable cap for the protruding bibulous member.

Rapid characterization and screening of polymer samples to determine average molecular weight, molecular weight distribution and other properties is disclosed. Rapid flow characterization systems and methods, including liquid chromatography and flow-injection analysis systems and methods are preferably employed. High throughput, automated sampling systems and methods, high-temperature characterization systems and methods, and rapid, indirect calibration compositions and methods are also disclosed. The described methods, systems, and devices have primary applications in combinatorial polymer research and in industrial process control.

The invention features devices and methods for the deterministic separation of particles. Exemplary methods include the enrichment of a sample in a desired particle or the alteration of a desired particle in the device. The devices and methods are advantageously employed to enrich for rare cells, e.g., fetal cells, present in a sample, e.g., maternal blood and rare cell components, e.g., fetal cell nuclei. The invention further provides a method for preferentially lysing cells of interest in a sample, e.g., to extract clinical information from a cellular component, e.g., a nucleus, of the cells of interest. In general, the method employs differential lysis between the cells of interest and other cells (e.g., other nucleated cells) in the sample.

A microfluidic device that comprises several microchannel structures in which there are an inlet port, an outlet port and there between a structural unit comprising a fluidic function. The structural unit can be selected amongst units enabling a) retaining of nl-aliquots comprising constituents which has been defined by mixing of aliquots within the microfluidic device (unit A), b) mixing of aliquots of liquids (unit B), c) partition of larger aliquots of liquids into smaller aliquots of liquids and distributing the latter individually and in parallel to different microchannel structure of the same microfluidic device (unit C), d) quick penetration into a microchannel structure of an aliquot of a liquid dispensed to an inlet port of a microchannel structure (unit D), and e) volume definition integrated within a microchannel structure (unit E).

Blood plasma of pregnant women contains fetal and (generally>90%) maternal circulatory extracellular DNA. Most of said fetal DNA contains .Itoreq.500 base pairs, said maternal DNA having a greater size. Separation of circulatory extracellular DNA of .Itoreq.500 base pairs results in separation of fetal from maternal DNA. A fraction of a blood plasma or serum sample of a pregnant woman containing, due to size separation (e.g. by chromatography, density gradient centrifugation or nanotechnological methods), extracellular DNA substantially comprising .Itoreq.500 base pairs is useful for non-invasive detection of fetal genetic traits (including the fetal RhD gene in pregnancies at risk for HDN; fetal Y chromosome-specific sequences in pregnancies at risk for X chromosome-linked disorders; chromosomal aberrations; hereditary Mendelian genetic disorders and corresponding genetic markers; and traits decisive for paternity determination) by e.g. PCR, ligand chain reaction or probe hybridization techniques, or nucleic acid arrays.

The present invention relates to a method for protein purification that involves the combination of non-affinity chromatography with HPTFF.