465 results about "Biological particles" patented technology

Fluid-handling methods and devices for ultrasonic manipulation of fluid-borne particles comprise a fluid-handling manifold and an ultrasonic particle manipulator defining an ultrasonic cavity within the manifold. Fluid-borne particles introduced into the manifold are manipulated by controlling ultrasonic standing waves at the ultrasonic cavity. Cavities having non-uniform configurations, asymmetric standing waves and/or multiple ultrasonic cavities within the manifold are operative to control the movement of the fluid-borne particles, optionally including collecting and holding such particles, transferring particles through an intersection from one channel to another, etc. Solid phase extraction (SPE) particles, biological particles and other fluid-borne particles can be manipulated within the fluid-handling manifold.

This invention is related to a flow fluorometric device and method employing a two-photon excitation and/or confocal optical set-up. The optical set-up of this invention is optimal for counting small fluorescent biological particles. The active focal volume is diffraction-limited and consequently much smaller than the volume of the flow channel. The excitation and detection concept has been found very efficient for rejection of the background signal. An objective lens with large numerical aperture for focusing the laser and for collecting the fluorescence is used and this restricts the active volume of measurement to a diffraction-limited volume which approximately corresponds to a volume of femtoliter. This volume is significantly smaller than the detection volume of ordinary flow cytometry.

The present invention provides a method and system for monitoring, detecting, and/or characterizing a biological particle that may be present in a sample whereby the method may be accomplished non-invasively by utilizing a time-dependent spectroscopic technique to obtain at least two measurements of a growth composition comprising a sample and correlating said measurements for the detection and/or characterization of a biological particle, that may be present in the sample.

An optical pattern-driven light induced dielectrophoresis (DEP) apparatus and separation methods are described which provide for the manipulation of particles or cells and selection based on traits correlated with the DEP response. Embodiments of the apparatus use DEP electric field patterns in combination with microfluidic laminar flows to measure response, separate, segregate and extract particles from heterogeneous mixtures according to the relative response of the particles to one or more DEP fields without damaging living cells. The methods are particularly suited for selecting and extracting the best sperm and embryo candidates based on fitness for use with existing artificial reproduction procedures and excluding defective or non-viable gametes.

A method for increasing the throughput, or the precision, or both the precision and the throughput, of a flow cytometer, or of a hematology analyzer employing a flow cytometer, by utilizing the technique of laser rastering. Laser rastering involves sweeping a laser beam across a flowing sample stream in a hematology analyzer. An apparatus suitable for carrying out the method of this invention comprises an optical module comprising a source of light, a scanning device, a lens or system of lenses, a flow cell, detectors, and filters; and an electronic module comprising preamplifiers, analog signal conditioning elements, analog-to-digital converters, field-programmable gate arrays, digital signal processing elements, and data storage elements.

A device for monitoring the migration or invasion of a biological particle such as a cell is disclosed. The device includes an upper chamber adapted to receive and retain a cell sample, a lower chamber having at least two electrodes, and a biocompatible porous membrane having a porosity sufficient to allow cells to migrate therethrough. The membrane is disposed in the device so as to separate the upper and lower chambers from one another. Migration of cells through the porous membrane permits contact between the migrating cells and one or more electrodes of the lower chamber. The contact provides a detectable change in impedance between or among the electrodes.

The present invention provides a method and system for monitoring, detecting, and/or characterizing a biological particle that may be present in a sample. The method may be accomplished in a sealed container by utilizing a first step time-dependent spectroscopic technique to obtain at least two measurements of a growth composition comprising a sample and correlating said measurements for the detection and/or characterization of a biological particle that may be present in the sample. The method further provides for a subsequent step for the separation, characterizion and/or identification of the microorganisms in the sealed container.

Devices for detecting particle sizes and distributions using focused light scattering techniques, by passing a sample through a focused beam of light, are disclosed. In one embodiment, the devices include one or more lasers, whose light is focused into a narrow beam and into a flow cell, and dispersions are passed through the flow cell using hydrodynamic sample injection. In another embodiment, a plurality of lasers is used, optionally with hydrodynamic sample injection. Particles pass through and scatter the light. The scattered light is then detected using scatter and extinction detectors, and, optionally, fluorescence detectors, and the number and size of the particles is determined. Particles in the size range of 0.1 to 10 μm can be measured. Using the device, significantly smaller particles can be detected than if techniques such as EQELS, flow cytometry, and other conventional devices for measuring biological particles.

The invention provides an aerosol particle laser analyzer which online and continuously detects the aerodynamic diameter and particle quantity of the aerosol particles in the air one by one in real-time and identifies whether the particles are biological particles; the aerosol particle laser analyzer comprises a particle beam queuing acceleration sampling system wrapped by shell flows, a dual-peak laser aerodynamic diameter measurement system, a biological particle fluorescent detection system induced by ultraviolet laser, an ineffective and superposed particle identification circuit, data processing, displaying and memorizing software, and a communication module. The aerosol particle laser analyzer can not only detect the physical parameters such as aerodynamic diameter, particle quantity and the like of the aerosol particles, but also can judge whether the particles are active biological particles or not according to the natural characteristic that the active biological particle emits bioluminescence when being induced and can measure the parameters of the active biological particles such as the quantity, the concentration and the like; the aerosol particle laser analyzer has exact detection results and can be used conveniently and fast for detection; and the parts have long service life and the volume of the aerosol particle laser analyzer is small, thus being convenient for movable usage.

The invention discloses an integrated chip system for high-throughput sorting and counting detection of biological particles, and an application. The chip system comprises a main microfluidic chip, a micropipe, a sample liquid micropump, an exchange liquid micropump, a first waste liquid collecting device, a second waste liquid collecting device, a third waste liquid collecting device, laser emitters, photoelectric conversion devices, optical fibers and a computer, wherein the main microfluidic chip comprises an asymmetric curved flow path, a first branch channel, a second branch channel, a third branch channel, a main flow path, a branch flow path, aligning marks, etc. The system utilizes the asymmetric curved flow path to realize pre-focusing and sorting for the particles, utilizes a liquid changing flow channel to realize change of a carrier liquid of to-be-tested particles and particle cleaning, and utilizes a viscoelastic effect and an inertial effect of a viscoelastic fluid to realize focus of single equilibrium position of section centers of the particles. The system does not need a sheath liquid, complex pre-cleaning of the particles, and optical alignment, has advantages of high speed, high precision, integration, miniaturization, automation, low cost, simple production process, easy batch production, etc.

Enhanced methods, apparatuses and systems are disclosed for the real-time detection and classification of biological and non-biological particles by substantially simultaneously measuring a single particle's characteristics in terms of size and density, elastic scattering properties, and absorption and fluorescence.

Highly efficient and rapid filtration-based concentration devices, systems and methods are disclosed with sample fluidic lines and a filter packaged in a disposable tip which concentrate biological particles that are suspended in liquid from a dilute feed suspension. A sample concentrate or retentate suspension is retained while eliminating the separated fluid in a separate flow stream. The concentrate is then dispensed from the disposable tip in a set volume of elution fluid. Suspended biological particles include such materials as proteins/toxins, viruses, DNA, and/or bacteria in the size range of approximately 0.001 micron to 20 microns diameter. Concentration of these particles is advantageous for detection of target particles in a dilute suspension, because concentrating them into a small volume makes them easier to detect. All conduits by which the disposable tip attaches to the instrument are combined into a single connection point on the upper end of the tip.

A novel filter-less separation technique for separating suspended particles from a solution is disclosed. More specifically, an on-chip bioparticle separator is disclosed, which relies on the differential force exerted by application of a series of high magnitude, short duration pressure pulses on bioparticles in suspension within microchannels, resulting in separation of suspended bioparticles. The filter-less separation technique is inherently suited to μTAS (Micro Total Analysis System) since it exploits uniquely microscale phenomena to achieve separation. The on-chip bioparticle separator can be easily integrated with a disposable biochip, can be fabricated using low-cost, rapid manufacturing techniques, and can provide high performance for separation of bioparticles without the use of specialized or expensive equipment. Embodiments of the present invention address a significant challenge in the development of disposable microfluidic biochips, specifically, providing a reliable solution for separating bioparticles in a microfluidic system that may be immediately applied for a variety of microfluidic biochip applications.

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for the characterization and/or the counting of particles by means of non uniform, time variable force fields and integrated optical or impedance meter sensors. The force fields can be of positive or negative dielectrophoresis, electrophoresis or electro-hydrodynamic motions, characterized by a set of stable equilibrium points for the particles (solid, liquid or gaseous); the same method is suitable for the manipulation of droplets (liquid particles) by exploiting effects known to the international scientific community with the name of Electro-wetting on dielectric. The aim of the present invention is to act on the control of the position of each particle which is present in the sample, for the purpose of displacing such particles in a deterministic or statistical way, in order to detect their presence with the integrated optical or impedance meter sensors and/or characterize their type, for the purpose of counting or manipulating them in an efficient way.

A environmental containment system (16) for a flow cytometer (21) which provides a adjustably controllable environment in which biological particles can be differentiated and droplets separated into collection containers (15).

A distributed biohazard surveillance system including a plurality of robust miniaturized remote monitoring stations for the detection, localized analysis and reporting of a broad range of biohazards. The remote monitoring station may be adapted to identify many different biological particles and is not limited to particular predetermined biohazard profiles. It is centrally and dynamically reconfigurable and can be adapted to operate unattended in a remote location. The distributed system may be used to locate and report unsuspected sources of biohazards and to monitor the localized effects in real-time cooperation with a centralized data processing facility.