Tissue Dissociator With Pliable Stopper For Cell Viability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for dissociating biological tissue samples are laborious and inefficient, often resulting in over-processing and reduced cell viability, particularly when dealing with complex or heterogeneous tissue types like cancerous or necrotic tissues.
Innovation Solution
A tissue dissociator with a blade holder and sample holder featuring a tissue actuator with a distal end pliable stopper, which is displaced along a longitudinal axis to be cut by the blades, ensuring thorough dissociation while minimizing tissue residue and providing feedback mechanisms for complete dissociation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If mechanical disruption and enzymatic digestion are used to dissociate tissue, then tissue structure is separated into cell compositions, but the process becomes laborious and time-consuming with numerous manipulations reducing cell viability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical disruption (scissors, scalpels, handheld processors) with an automated motorized tissue processor that performs standardized mechanical disruption followed by enzymatic digestion, eliminating laborious manual manipulations and improving cell viability while maintaining dissociation efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements programmable parameters for mechanical disruption intensity, enzymatic digestion conditions, and processing time that can be optimized for different tissue types, allowing efficient dissociation while preserving cell viability through precise control of processing parameters
2Productivity
If extensive mechanical disruption is applied to separate tissue from other biological material, then dissociation is achieved, but over-processing occurs reducing cell viability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates feedback mechanisms through programmable processing protocols that control the extent of mechanical disruption and enzymatic digestion, preventing over-processing by automatically stopping at optimal points that maintain high cell viability while achieving complete dissociation
3Ease of operation
If standardized processing time is used for tissue dissociation, then processing is simplified, but complex heterogeneous tissues like cancerous or necrotic tissue require different extents of dissociation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic, adjustable processing parameters that can be customized for different tissue types including healthy, cancerous, and necrotic tissues. The motorized processor allows programming of specific mechanical disruption intensities and enzymatic digestion times tailored to each tissue type's characteristics, maintaining ease of operation through automation while achieving versatility across heterogeneous samples
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 solution effectively dissociates biological tissue samples into a high yield of viable cells with minimal residue, maintaining cell viability at 50% or greater, suitable for further processing into single cell compositions.
Implementation Method 1
The pliable stopper is configured to remove tissue remaining on the blades during dissociation of the biological tissue sample
Data Source
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AI summary
Tissue dissociators configured to disrupt a biological tissue sample are provided. Aspects of the tissue dissociators according to certain embodiments include a blade holder having a blade and a sample holder that includes a tissue actuator having a distal end pliable stopper where the tissue actuator is configured to be displaced along a longitudinal axis with the sample holder. Also provided are methods of dissociating a biological tissue sample with the tissue dissociators, as well as kits including the tissue dissociators.