According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of screening a prostate cancer patient by optical image analysis of a circulating tumor cell marker and a prostate-specific membrane antigen.

This disclosure relates to methods for sorting sperm cells in a microfluidic chip. In particular, various steps are incorporated to align and orienting sperm in flow channels, as well as, to determining sperm orientation and measure relative DNA content for analysis and/or sorting.

The present invention relates to a method for analyzing and selecting a specific droplet among a plurality of droplets (4), comprising the following steps: —providing a plurality of droplets (4), —for a droplet (4) among the plurality of droplets, measuring at least two optical signals, each optical signal being representative of a light intensity spatial distribution in the droplet for an associated wavelength channel, —calculating a plurality of parameters from the optical signals, —determining a sorting class for a droplet according to calculated parameters, —sorting said droplet according to its sorting class, wherein the plurality of parameters comprises the coordinates of a maximum for each optical signal and a co-localization parameter and the at least two calculated parameters used for the determining step comprises the co-localization parameter.

To provide a technology of optimizing a suction condition of a microparticle.

The present technology provides an optimizing method of a suction condition of a microparticle including: a particle number counting step of detecting a time point when a microparticle passes through a predetermined position on a main flow path through which liquid containing the microparticle flows, sucking the microparticle from the main flow path to a microparticle suction flow path by the microparticle suction flow path with a predetermined suction force, and counting the number of microparticles sucked into the microparticle suction flow path; and a step of determining an elapsed time from passage through the predetermined position with which the suction by the microparticle suction flow path should be performed on the basis of a time from the time point when the microparticle passes through the predetermined position on the main flow path until the suction is performed and the number of counted microparticles.

Methods and systems for determining interaction between cells are described wherein the method includes determining or receiving a sequence of images representing manipulating first cells, in a holding space, the holding space including a functionalized wall comprising second cells, the manipulating including settling of the first cells onto the functionalized wall and applying a force on the settled first cells; detecting groups of pixels representing first cells in first images representing the settling of the first cells onto the functionalized wall; tracking locations of detected first cells in the first images; and, determining settling events, a settling event being determined if a cell in a first image is not distinguishable from background of the first image, the location in the image at which a cell settling event is detected defining a cell settling location; detecting groups of pixels representing cells in second images captured during the application of the force and tracking locations of detected cells, wherein tracked locations of a detected cell in the second images form a tracking path, the first location of the tracking path defining a pop-up event, the location in a second image at which a pop-up event is detected defining a pop-up location; and, determining detachment events based on the settling locations and based on the pop-up locations, a detachment event defining a first cell being detached from a second cell due to application of the force on the first cell, and determining information about the interaction between first and second cells based on the force applied to the first cells.

A particle detecting module is provided and includes a base, a piezoelectric actuator, a driving circuit board, a laser component, a particulate sensor and an outer cover. A gas-guiding-component loading region and a laser loading region are separated by the base. By the design of the gas flowing path, the driving circuit board covering the bottom surface of the base, and the outer cover covering the surfaces of the base, an inlet path is defined by the gas inlet groove of the base, and an outlet path is defined by a gas outlet groove of the base. Consequently, the thickness of the particle detecting module is drastically reduced.

An imaging flow cytometer device includes a housing holding a multi-color illumination source configured for pulsed or continuous wave operation. A microfluidic channel is disposed in the housing and is fluidically coupled to a source of fluid containing objects that flow through the microfluidic channel. A color image sensor is disposed adjacent to the microfluidic channel and receives light from the illumination source that passes through the microfluidic channel. The image sensor captures image frames containing raw hologram images of the moving objects passing through the microfluidic channel. The image frames are subject to image processing to reconstruct phase and/or intensity images of the moving objects for each color. The reconstructed phase and/or intensity images are then input to a trained deep neural network that outputs a phase recovered image of the moving objects. The trained deep neural network may also be trained to classify object types.

Techniques for analyzing bioparticles are described. The techniques may involve a microchip for bioparticle analysis. The microchip may include at least one channel configured to provide a flow path for one or more biological particles and at least one optic configured to receive fluorescence generated by irradiating at least some of the one or more biological particles in the flow path with at least one light beam. The at least one optic may have a surface configured to direct the fluorescence. A first portion of the surface may be configured to receive the at least one light beam. The first portion may have a different curvature that at least one second portion of the surface.

A microfluidic analyser and a method of using the same is disclosed. The microfluidic analyser comprising a droplet generator, an analyte flow channel in fluid communication with said droplet generator at a first end, wherein said flow channel is configured to allow the droplets to flow in from the first end and exit from a second opposing end, said flow channel receiving at least one illumination channel positioned at a predetermined location between the first and the second end to excite contents of the droplets and said flow channel further comprising a plurality of receiving channels set at predetermined angles to an axis of the flow channel to interrogate at least one optical signal from the illuminated droplet traversing the flow channel and wherein said receiving channels terminate in a signal detector at the distal end away from the flow channel.

Microfluidic devices, systems and methods are described herein. The devices, systems and methods provide for trapping particles, including cells. Methods of generating a droplet in a microfluidic device and collecting droplets from microfluidic devices are also disclosed herein.