A microporous structure includes an array of nano wires and a coating about the nano wires of the array. The coating defines pores between the nano wires.

The present disclosure relates to a microfluidic particle concentrator that includes an inlet microchannel, a filtering chamber fluidly connected to the inlet microchannel to receive a sample fluid, and a mechanical filter positioned in the filtering chamber. The particle concentrator also includes a filter outlet microchannel fluidly connected to the filtering chamber to receive a particle-ablated fluid formed by passing through the mechanical filter, a particle outlet microchannel fluidly connected to the filtering chamber to receive a particle-concentrated fluid including a plurality of particles not permitted to pass through the mechanical filter, and a fluid movement network including multiple pumps. The multiple fluid pumps generate sample fluid flow through the inlet microchannel and into the filtering chamber, particle-ablated fluid flow from the mechanical filter into the filter outlet microchannel, and particle-concentrated fluid from the filtering chamber into the particle outlet microchannel.

Disclosed is a device for extracting a filtrate from a liquid sample that includes one or more filtration membranes and, in physical contact with a portion of the downstream surface(s) of the filtration membrane(s), a soluble matrix possessing a capillary drawing force sufficient to draw filtrate through the at least one filtration membrane and into the soluble matrix, causing the soluble matrix to at least partially dissolve or disintegrate in the filtrate, whereby the filtrate is released. Various configurations, including device configurations having two filtration membranes with a soluble matrix in between or having a tubular filtration membrane at least partially surrounding or surrounded by a soluble matrix are described.

A lateral filter array microfluidic (LFAM) device for highly efficient immunoaffinity isolation of target cells from a population of cells. The LFAM device may include of one or more serpentine main channels incorporated with lateral filter arrays. Antibodies are immobilized on the channel surface including the lateral filters and are capable of specific binding to one or more biomolecules on the surface of the target cell. The device may include one or more arrays of lateral filters with different sizes. The overall filters sizes are close to the diameter of the target cell, therefore the interaction between biomarkers on the target cells and corresponding antibodies immobilized on the filter surface is largely strengthened due to the direct contact between target cells and lateral filters. Methods include flowing a population of cells through an antibody-coated LFAM device for target cells capture, followed by washing the device to remove non-specific captured cells.

A micro fluid filtration system (100) preferably for increasing the concentration of components contained in a fluid sample has a fluid circuitry (1). The fluid circuitry (1) comprises the following elements: A tangential flow filtration element (7) capable for separating the fluid sample into a retentate stream and a permeate stream upon passage of the fluid, an element for pumping (3) for creating and driving a fluid flow through the fluid circuitry (1) and at least one element for obtaining information about the properties of the fluid sample within the circuitry. The circuitry further comprises a plurality of conduits (24) connecting the elements of the fluid circuitry (1) through which a fluid stream of the fluid sample is conducted. The circuitry (1) has a minimal working volume of at most 5 ml, which is the minimal fluid volume retained in the elements and the conduits (24) of the circuitry (1) such that the fluid can be recirculated in the circuitry (1) without pumping air through the circuitry (1). An integrated microfluidic element (20) of the circuitry (1) contains the functionality of at least two elements of the group of elements of the circuitry (1).

A microfluidic tissue dissociation and filtration device simultaneously filters large tissue fragments and dissociates smaller aggregates into single cells, thereby improving single cell yield and purity. The device includes an inlet coupled to a first microfluidic channel at an upstream location and a first outlet at a downstream location. A first filter membrane is interposed between the first microfluidic channel and a second microfluidic channel, wherein the second microfluidic channel is in fluidic communication with the first microfluidic channel via the first filter membrane. The first filter membrane operates under a tangential flow format. A second outlet is coupled to a downstream location of the second microfluidic channel and includes a second filter membrane interposed between the second outlet and the second microfluidic channel. The dual membrane device increased single cell numbers by at least 3-fold for different tissue types.

A capturing of target cells from a biological sample is achieved by inducing a flow of the biological sample in a flow channel (30, 60) of an upstream microfluidic device (1). Target cells present in the biological sample are captured in cell channels (20) of the upstream microfluidic device(1). Once at least a minimum number of target cells are captured in the cell channels (20), the flow of the biological sample in the flow channel is reduced and are verse flow is applied at the upstream microfluidic device (1) to release the target cells captured in the cell channels (20) of the upstream microfluidic device (1) and enable transfer the target cells into cell channels (120) of a downstream microfluidic device (100).

A microfluidic device (1) comprises a substrate (10) having a flow input channel (30) in fluid connection with a first fluid port (31) and a flow output channel (40) in fluid connection with a third fluid port (41) and cell channels (20) disposed between the flow input channel (30) and the flow output channel (40). The cell channels (20) comprise a respective obstruction (25) designed to prevent the target cells from passing the respective obstruction (25) and into the flow output channel (40). The microfluidic device (1) also comprises a pre-filter (50) with a filter channel (60) in fluid connection with a first filter port (61) and pre-filter channels (70) adapted to accommodate the target cells. A respective first end (72) of the pre-filter channels (70) is in fluid connection with the filter channel (60) and a respective second end (74) of the pre-filter channels (70) is in fluid connection with the flow input channel (30).

Disclosed is a device for extracting a filtrate from a liquid sample that includes one or more filtration membranes and, in physical contact with a portion of the downstream surface(s) of the filtration membrane(s), a soluble matrix possessing a capillary drawing force sufficient to draw filtrate through the at least one filtration membrane and into the soluble matrix, causing the soluble matrix to at least partially dissolve or disintegrate in the filtrate, whereby the filtrate is released. Various configurations, including device configurations having two filtration membranes with a soluble matrix in between or having a tubular filtration membrane at least partially surrounding or surrounded by a soluble matrix are described.

The present invention discloses a method to continuously manufacture micro- and/or nanoparticles of single component particles or multi-component particles such as particulate amorphous solid dispersions or particulate co-crystals. The continuous method comprises the steps of 1. preparing a first solution comprising at least one component and at least one solvent and a second solution comprising at least one anti-solvent of the at least one component comprised in the first solution, 2. mixing said first solution and said second solution by means of microfluidization to produce a suspension by precipitation or co-precipitation, 3. feeding said suspension to a filtration system to obtain a concentrate stream, 4. feeding said concentrate stream to a spray dryer, 5. atomizing said concentrate stream using at least one atomization nozzle, 6. drying said atomized concentrate stream to obtain particles, and 7. collecting said particles. Single component particles or multi-component particles, particulate amorphous solid dispersions, particulate co-crystals and pharmaceutical compositions are also disclosed.