Acoustic separation and dissolution

Abstract

An example of a system includes a flow cell containing a fluid channel configured to receive a sample, which may include plasma and blood cells. [Solution] The system is configured such that one or more acoustic transducers output sound waves to a fluid channel. The one or more acoustic transducers are configured to (i) output sound waves in a first frequency range to separate plasma from blood cells in the fluid channel, and (ii) output sound waves in a second frequency range to lyse the blood cells in the fluid channel. The first frequency range includes frequencies higher than the second frequency range. The spectrometer is configured to (i) perform detection in a region of the fluid channel containing plasma separated from blood cells, and (ii) perform detection in a region of the fluid channel where the blood cells have been lyse.

Claims

1. A flow cell comprising a fluid channel configured to receive a sample, wherein the sample comprises plasma and blood cells, One or more acoustic transducers configured to output sound waves to the fluid channel, wherein the one or more acoustic transducers are configured to (i) output sound waves in a first frequency range to separate the plasma from the blood cells in the fluid channel, and (ii) output sound waves in a second frequency range to dissolve the blood cells in the fluid channel, the first frequency range including frequencies higher than the second frequency range, (i) A spectrometer that performs detection in the region of the fluid channel containing the plasma separated from the blood cells, and (ii) A spectrometer that performs detection in the region of the fluid channel in which the blood cells have been lysed. A system equipped with these features.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the spectrometer is an imaging spectrometer.

3. The system according to claim 1, further comprising an imaging camera for capturing an image of the fluid channel.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein one or more acoustic transducers are coupled to the flow cell.

5. The aforementioned system, A test apparatus comprising the spectrometer, wherein the test apparatus also comprises a slot, A cartridge including the flow cell, wherein the cartridge is configured to enter and exit a slot of the test equipment, and The system according to claim 1, comprising:

6. The system according to claim 5, wherein one or more acoustic transducers are coupled to the flow cell and thus become part of the cartridge.

7. The system according to claim 5, wherein the one or more acoustic transducers are configured to move for physical coupling with the flow cell when the cartridge is fully inside the slot of the test apparatus.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more acoustic transducers include a single acoustic transducer configured to output sound waves in both the first frequency range and the second frequency range.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein the first frequency range is in the range of 0.5 to 30 megahertz (MHz) or higher, and the second frequency range is in the range of 10 kilohertz (KHz) to 500 KHz.

10. The system according to claim 1, wherein the region of the fluid in which the plasma separated from the blood cells is detected and the region of the fluid channel in which dissolution is detected are different parts of the fluid channel.

11. The system according to claim 1, wherein the fluid channel has a first dimension in a first region and a second dimension in a second region, the second dimension being different from the first dimension.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the dimensions include channel width or channel depth.

13. The system according to claim 11, wherein the fluid channel includes a bent portion connecting the first region and the second region.

14. The system according to claim 1, wherein the interior of the flow cell defining the fluid channel comprises a structure extending from or to the interior surface, the structure having a height or depth in the range of 20 nanometers (nm) to 10,000 nm.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the structure has a shape that is at least one of pyramidal, cylindrical, rectangular, rhombic, hemispherical, conical, flat-bottomed teardrop, or spiked.

16. A step of controlling one or more acoustic transducers to output sound waves to a fluid channel containing a sample consisting of plasma and blood cells, wherein the one or more acoustic transducers are controlled to output sound waves in a first frequency range to separate the plasma from the blood cells in the fluid channel. A step of obtaining information from a region of the fluid channel containing the plasma separated from the blood cells, A step of obtaining a hemolysis measurement value for the region of the fluid channel containing the plasma separated from the blood cells, based on the information obtained by the imaging spectrometer from the region of the fluid channel containing the plasma separated from the blood cells, Steps include: separating the plasma from the blood, and then controlling one or more acoustic transducers to output sound waves to the fluid channel, wherein the one or more acoustic transducers are controlled to output sound waves in a second frequency range to dissolve the blood cells in the fluid channel, the second frequency range including frequencies lower than the first frequency range; The steps include: obtaining information from the region of the fluid channel where the blood cells have been lysed; A step of obtaining CO oximetry measurements of the region of the fluid channel where the blood cells are lysed, based on the information obtained by the imaging spectrometer from the region of the fluid channel where the blood cells are lysed, A method that includes [a certain feature].

17. The step of acquiring the information from the region of the fluid channel containing the plasma includes controlling the imaging system to acquire the information from the region of the fluid channel containing the plasma, The system of claim 16, wherein the step of acquiring the information from the region of the fluid channel in which the blood cells have been lysed includes controlling the imaging system to acquire the information from the region of the fluid channel in which the blood cells have been lysed.

18. The method according to claim 16, wherein one or more acoustic transducers are coupled to a flow cell including the fluid channel.

19. The test apparatus comprises one or more acoustic transducers and the imaging spectrometer, and the test apparatus also comprises a slot. The cartridge includes a flow cell containing the fluid channel, The aforementioned method, A step of detecting the complete insertion of the cartridge into the slot, After fully inserting the cartridge into the slot, the one or more acoustic transducers are controlled to move toward the flow cell, and The method of claim 16, further comprising the above.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the region of the fluid from which separation information is obtained and the region of the fluid channel from which dissolution information is obtained are different parts of the fluid channel.

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