A micro-fluidic device for concentration of particles via centrifugal force, and corresponding centrifugation and/or detection device

Abstract

A microfluidic device for concentrating particles contained in a fluid sample (FS) comprises a substrate (11) configured for being set in rotation about a centre of rotation (5a), the substrate (11) having a surface (11b) defined in which is at least one microfluidic arrangement (12) that extends substantially according to a plane identified by the substrate (11). The at least one microfluidic arrangement (12) comprises at least one microchannel (13) having a first end (13a) and a second end (13b), wherein: the at least one microchannel (13) comprises, in a region thereof intermediate between its first end (l3a) and its second end (13a), at least one accumulation area (15) that is at a first distance (R1) in a radial direction (R) from the centre of rotation (5a) of the substrate (11); the first end (l3a) and the second end (13b) of the at least one microchannel (13) are at second distances (R2) in a radial direction (R) from the centre of rotation (5a) of the substrate (11); and the first distance (R1) in a radial direction (R) is greater than the second distances (R2) in a radial direction (R), in such a way that particles (P) possibly contained in a volume of fluid of the fluid sample (FS) that penetrates into the at least one microchannel (13) tend to concentrate in the at least one accumulation area (15) as a result of the centrifugal force caused by a rotation of the substrate (11) about the centre of rotation (5a).

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention generally relates to techniques for detecting or estimating the amount of particles present in a fluid sample, particularly particles of low concentration and small volume. [0002] The present invention has been developed with particular reference to centrifugal supports or substrates and to microfluidic arrangements or devices designed to undergo centrifugation, as well as devices and methods for the examination of fluid samples containing bacteria or microorganisms or Analysis, for example for fast execution of antibiogram detection. In any case, the invention is also applicable to the detection of other types of particles that may be present in fluid samples, which are not necessarily organic or biological fluids or particles. Background technique [0003] Various techniques are known for counting particles, such as cells, present in a sample of a fluid, such as a biological fluid. The most used systems are of the optical ty...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

These known systems typically require relatively large sample sizes and do not enable efficient parallelization of measurements; i.e., they assume a relatively large number of starting samples to enable many measurements to be performed in parallel and / or simultaneously

Known systems based on image recognition techniques can be used to analyze small fluid samples, but do not enable parallelization of multiple samples, thereby increasing measurement time unless investment is made, which often proves uneconomical

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