Magnetic Micro-Needle for Single Cell Isolation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for isolating rare cells, such as Circulating Tumor Cells (CTC), suffer from significant cell loss during sample transfer and subsequent isolation procedures, especially when dealing with small numbers of cells.
Innovation Solution
A magnetic micro-needle device is used to selectively pick and transfer immunomagnetically labeled target cells, allowing for direct cell manipulation and transfer without the need for additional platforms, thereby minimizing cell loss.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional single cell isolation techniques (FACS, laser dissection, microfluidic systems) are used, then cell selection capability is improved, but cell loss during sample transfer increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the immunomagnetic enrichment platform with the single cell isolation platform by integrating a magnetic needle directly into the microscope stage. This combination eliminates the need to transfer cells between separate platforms, thereby reducing cell loss while maintaining selection capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The magnetic needle serves as an intermediary tool that directly manipulates immunomagnetically labeled cells at the microscope stage. This intermediary device enables precise cell selection and transfer without requiring additional platform transitions, thus minimizing cell loss.
2Manufacturing precision
If multiple platforms are used for enrichment and isolation, then sample purity is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple functional platforms into a single integrated system where the magnetic needle is mounted on the microscope stage. This integration maintains sample purity through immunomagnetic enrichment while reducing overall device complexity by eliminating the need for separate enrichment and isolation platforms.
3Measurement precision
If immunomagnetic enrichment is performed followed by single cell isolation, then detection accuracy for rare cells is improved, but loss of time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs immunomagnetic enrichment as a preliminary action before single cell isolation, with both operations conducted in sequence without time-consuming transfers between platforms. The magnetic needle is ready to immediately pick and transfer cells once identified, minimizing total processing time while maintaining detection accuracy.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The magnetic micro-needle effectively reduces cell loss by enabling precise and efficient transfer of individual cells, maintaining sample purity, and allowing for further analysis such as DNA analysis and molecular confirmation.
Implementation Method 1
A magnetic micro-needle device is used to selectively pick and transfer immunomagnetically labeled target cells
Implementation Method 2
immunomagnetically enriched and fluorescently labelled cells
Data Source
AI summary
A device and methods for a magnetic micro-needle enables the selection of immunomagnetically labelled target cells. By changing the magnetic strength of the needle the speed and selectivity of the cell, selection can be adapted thus differentiating between cells with different amounts of magnetic labelled antigens on the surface of the target cells. The magnetic micro-needle thus makes use of the same cell property as used for their enrichment from the bodily fluid and identification of the target cells by their immunofluorescence profile to allow the use of the same platform avoiding any need to transfer the immunomagnetically enriched sample before selection of the cells by the magnetic micro-needle, making this device ideally suited for subsequent detailed interrogation.