A particle analyzer, comprising a source of a substantially nondiffracting light beam; a flow path configured to produce in a flowcell a ribbon-like core stream having a specific cross-sectional aspect ratio; the flowcell being configured to expose a segment of the core stream to the light beam; a detector configured to receive a signal resulting from an interaction of a particle in the core stream with the light beam; a first sorting actuator connected with the flowcell, downstream of the exposed segment of core stream; a plurality of sorting channels in fluid connection with the flow path and downstream of the first actuator; the actuator having multiple actuation states, each state configured to direct at least one part of the core stream to a corresponding channel; a second sorting actuator connected with the flowcell, opposite the first actuator, and operable in coordination with the first actuator.

A method of sorting cells including magnetically coupling a nozzle assembly to a flow cytometer in a predetermined orientation to form a fluid stream having a sheath fluid and a sample fluid. Particles within the sample fluid are oriented and then interrogated at an inspection zone to produces signals representative of emitted or reflected electromagnetic radiation. The electromagnetic radiation is analyzed to classify the cells and the cells are sorted according to their classification.

Hydrogel particles and their use in cytometric applications are described. The hydrogel particles described herein are selectively tunable to have at least one optical property substantially similar to the at least one optical property of a target cell. In this regard, the hydrogel particles provided herein in one aspect, are used as a calibration reagent for the detection of a target cell in a sample.

A cell capture system including an array, an inlet manifold, and an outlet manifold. The array includes a plurality of parallel pores, each pore including a chamber and a pore channel, an inlet channel fluidly connected to the chambers of the pores; an outlet channel fluidly connected to the pore channels of the pores. The inlet manifold is fluidly connected to the inlet channel, and the outlet channel is fluidly connected to the outlet channel. A cell removal tool is also disclosed, wherein the cell removal tool is configured to remove a captured cell from a pore chamber.

The invention describes a method for isolating one or more genetic elements encoding a gene product having a desired activity, comprising the steps of: (a) compartmentalising genetic elements into microcapsules; and (b) sorting the genetic elements which express the gene product having the desired activity; wherein at least one step is under microfluidic control. The invention enables the in vitro evolution of nucleic acids and proteins by repeated mutagenesis and iterative applications of the method of the invention.

A disposable flow cell formed on a substrate for separating particles from a sample solution includes a sample flow path and a sample reservoir formed on the substrate, wherein the sample flow path is connected to the sample reservoir for introducing the sample solution from the sample reservoir, the sample flow path comprises an illuminating region configured for illumination by an external illumination unit, wherein the sample reservoir is adapted to be airtightly connected to an external constant air pump such that a constant air pressure can be applied to the sample solution by the external constant air pump; and a first branched flow path and a second branched flow path perpendicularly connected, respectively, to both sides of the sample flow path at a location downstream of the illumination region, wherein the first branched flow path comprises a connection port configured for air-tight connection to an external pulse air pump.

Droplet sorting modules for sorting droplets of a flow stream are described. Droplet sorting modules according to certain embodiments include a plurality of droplet sort decision units and a processor with memory operably coupled to the processor, where the memory includes instructions stored thereon, which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to determine an optimal droplet sort decision unit from the plurality of sort decision units for sorting each droplet of the flow stream. Particle (e.g., cells) sorting systems and methods for sorting droplets of a flow stream are also described. Kits having one or more of the subject droplet sorting modules are also provided.

Methods and systems are disclosed for controlling a particle analyzer based at least in part on a generated entrainment factor for a sample. The features include flowing a sample with a series of particles through the particle analyzer, detecting events and calculating an expected frequency of those events based on a distribution, such as a Poisson distribution, and measuring an observed frequency of particle events. An entrainment factor may be generated from a ratio of observed event frequency to expected event frequency. Further adjustment to the particle analyzer maybe performed based on the indicated entrainment factor such as adjusted sorting bias.

A particle manipulation system uses a MEMS-based, microfabricated particle manipulation device which has a sample inlet channel, output channels, and a movable member formed on a substrate. The device may be used to separate a target particle from non-target material in a sample stream. In order to improve the sorter speed, accuracy or yield, the particle manipulation system may also include a microfluidic structure which focuses the target particles in a particular portion of the sample inlet channel. The particle manipulation device may have two separate sort output channels, wherein the sort channel used depends on the characteristics of the sort pulse delivered to the micromechanical particle manipulation device.

Provided are a fine particle analyzing apparatus, a fine particle analyzing method, a program, and a fine particle analyzing system, which are capable of easily separating a plurality of types of spectral data on fluorescence emitted from a fine particle. A data extracting unit included in the fine particle analyzing apparatus selectively extracts spectral data, which contain predetermined information, from spectral data on fluorescence emitted from a fine particle. The data extracting unit selectively extracts spectral data indicating the maximum intensity in a wavelength area set beforehand from one or a plurality of types of spectral data indicating intensity of fluorescence emitted from the fine particle for each of a plurality of wavelengths.