Sequential processing of biological fluids

Abstract

A process for the sequential processing of opaque and transparent biological fluids such as whole blood, apheresis blood, bone marrow blood, umbilical cord blood, buffy coat or cultured cells by processing steps in a hollow cylindrical centrifugal processing chamber (300) which is part of a disposable set. At least three different procedures selected from washing, incubation, transduction, separation, density gradient separation, dilution and volume adjustment are each carried out once or repeated a number of times according to a given processing profile in the processing chamber. Each procedure involves an input into the processing chamber, an operation in the processing chamber and an output from the processing chamber by displacement of a piston (310). The at least three different procedures are sequentially chained one after the other to constitute an overall sequential operation in the processing chamber and its disposable set. A first application is incubation for binding magnetic beads with human blood cells or stem cells. A second application is transduction by which foreign genetic material is inserted into human blood cells or stem cells by a virus. A third application is reconditioning biological fluids to achieve reproducible concentration and volumes of blood cells or stem cells.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The invention relates to a system for the processing of biological fluids such as whole blood, apheresis blood, bone marrow blood, umbilical cord blood, buffy coat or cultured cells by process steps which include washing, incubation, transduction, separation, density gradient separation, dilution and volume adjustment.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]EP-B-0 912 250 (C.FELL), the contents whereof are herein incorporated by way of reference, describes a system for the processing and separation of biological fluids into components, comprising a set of containers for receiving the biological fluid to be separated and the separated components, and optionally one or more additional containers for additive solutions. A hollow centrifuge processing chamber is rotatable about an axis of rotation by engagement of the processing chamber with a rotary drive unit. The processing chamber has an axial inlet / outlet for biological fluid to be processed and for processed c...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The invention is a process that allows for the efficient handling of larger volumes of fluid compared to previous methods. This is useful for processing larger volumes of white blood cells, including platelets, monocytes, lymphocytes, and granulocytes. The process uses an infrared sensor to accurately measure the position of the piston during processing, replacing the previous optical sensor used for red blood cells. Overall, this invention overcomes limitations and expands the ability to process different types of cells.

Problems solved by technology

Also, the known Sepax applications were essentially limited to performing most often one single processing function with the product, such as volume concentration or washing applications.

Another limitation of Sepax was that the products to be processed all contained red blood cells in the product, and the apparatus used an optical sensor as an essential element essential element for determining the transition between red blood cells and the in-piston gap.

Such systems can carry out sequential processing procedures but their configuration and operation are so different from the Sepax system that they offer no useful guidance for improving the Sepax system with its inherent limitations.

Images