An object of the present invention is to provide a kit and a method capable of achieving high-precision measurement of a measurement target substance in a biological sample in a wide concentration range from a low concentration to a high concentration. According to the present invention, there is provided a kit for measuring a measurement target substance in a biological sample, the kit including: a labeled particle having a first binding substance capable of binding to the measurement target substance in a biological sample and having a first blocking agent; and a substrate having a second binding substance capable of binding to any one of the measurement target substance or the first binding substance and having a second blocking agent, in which the labeled particle is a luminescent labeled particle containing at least one kind of compound represented by Formula (1) and a particle, and the first blocking agent and the second blocking agent are different from each other. ##STR00001## Each symbol in Formula (1) has the meaning described in the present specification.

The present disclosure provides methods for reducing the viscosity of a cell lysate or tissue lysate by: contacting the cell lysate or tissue lysate with a compressible and open-cell foam filter having a pore size from about 0.65 mm to about 1.22 mm, compressing the filter to recover the lysate absorbed in the filter, and collecting the filtered lysate; and also provides kits therefor.

Devices, systems, and their methods of use, for generating droplets are provided. One or more geometric parameters of a microfluidic channel can be selected to generate droplets of a desired and predictable droplet size.

Compositions comprising multiple hydrogel particles having substantially the same diameter, but with each subgrouping of particles from the multiple hydrogel particles having different associated values for one or more passive optical properties that can be deconvoluted using cytometric instrumentation. Each hydrogel particle from the multiple hydrogel particles can be functionalized with a different biochemical or chemical target from a set of targets. A method of preparing hydrogel particles includes forming droplets and polymerizing the droplets, with optional functionalization.

The methods include selectively reducing or expanding T cells according to the antigenic specificity of the T cells. Therefore, the present invention can be used to reduce or eliminate pathogenic T cells that recognize autoantigens, such as beta cell specific T cells. As such, the present invention can be used to prevent, treat or ameliorate autoimmune diseases such as IDDM. Furthermore, the present invention can be used to expand desirable T cells, such as anti-pathogenic T cells to prevent, treat and/or ameliorate autoimmune diseases.

The invention relates to a method for detecting organisms in a liquid sample, comprising the provision of a capture area including particles in a liquid medium and subjected to a hydrodynamic flow, wherein the organisms to be detected are capable of binding to these particles, the method comprising the steps of: (a) circulating the sample through the capture area; (b) circulating a growth medium through the capture area; and (c) determining the presence, nature or concentration of organisms in the capture area; said particles being retained in the capture area as a fluidized bed for at least one part of these steps.

The invention also relates to a system for implementing this method.

A method of fabricating shaped particles is disclosed. The method involves generating a plurality of droplets within dispersion media (e.g., oil and surfactant), the plurality of droplets formed from a mixture of precursor materials that are in a miscible state. A stimulus or change of conditions is then introduced to the droplets so as to cause the mixture of precursor materials to become immiscible and phase-separate from one another. The phase-separated droplets are then crosslinked to form shaped particles. The stimulus or change of conditions may include one or more of the following: a change in temperature, a change in pH, a change in osmolarity, a change composition of the droplets, a change in the composition of the dispersion media. The shaped particles may be washed to remove un-crosslinked material and one or more affinity capture agents may be immobilized onto the shaped particles.

A method for avoiding the influence of a blood sample on a measurement error in a latex agglutination immunoassay. The measurement error caused by a blood sample in a latex agglutination immunoassay can be reduced by a method which includes a step of bringing the sample into contact, in a liquid phase, with latex particles carrying a substance having a specific affinity for an analyte in the presence of imidazole.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide an automatic analysis device capable of efficiently performing a plurality of analyses, while reducing the footprint and cost of the device. Provided is an automatic analysis device characterized by being provided with containers for containing samples, one rack for placing the containers thereon, and a control unit, the control unit generating, with respect to the one rack, a plurality of registration patterns in which information of the positions where the containers are disposed, and information of the samples contained in the containers are correlated with each other, storing the registration patterns thus generated, applying, to the one rack, one registration pattern selected from among the registration patterns thus stored, and analyzing the samples. Also provided is an analysis method using the device.

An analyte [25] in a matrix is sensed using a sensing device having a detection probe [21] conjugated to a mediator-receptor [22] that is not a binder for the analyte. The sensor device is provided with mediators [23] conjugated to analyte-receptors [24], where the mediators are selected to bind to the mediator-receptors, and where the analyte-receptors are selected to bind to the analyte. In some embodiments, the mediators are bound to the detection probe by a tether molecule, or tether molecule fragment, or tether domain. In other embodiments, the mediators are not bound to the detection probe. The presence of the analyte is detected by optically or electrically detecting changes of distance between the mediators and the mediator-receptor, indicative of association and/or dissociation events between mediators and mediator-receptor, the characteristics of which are affected by whether the analyte is bound to the analyte-receptor.