An object of the present invention is to provide a separation substrate having a high megakaryocyte blocking rate and a high platelet permeation rate, and a cell separation filter and a method for producing a platelet which use the same. The separation substrate of the present invention is a separation substrate including non-woven fabric for separating a platelet from a cell suspension containing a megakaryocyte and the platelet, in which an average pore diameter of the separation substrate is 2.0 μm to 15.0 μm, and a thickness of the separation substrate is 10 μm to 500 μm.

Systems and methods for cleansing blood are disclosed herein. The methods include acoustically separating target particles from elements of whole blood. The whole blood and capture particles are flowed through a microfluidic separation channel formed in a thermoplastic. At least one bulk acoustic transducer is attached to the microfluidic separation channel. A standing acoustic wave, imparted on the channel and its contents by the bulk acoustic transducer, drives the formed elements of the blood and target particles to specific aggregation axes.

A monolithic membrane-type filtration structure for filtering liquids, includes a support formed of a porous inorganic material of permeability K.sub.s, the support having a tubular overall shape with a main axis, an upstream base, a downstream base, a peripheral wall delimiting an internal part and a plurality of passages parallel to the main axis of the support, formed in the internal part of the support, a membrane of permeability K.sub.m and of mean thickness t.sub.m covering the internal surface of the passages; the external hydraulic diameter of the structure satisfying the relationship Ø.sub.f=α×[A+B×log.sub.10 (K.sub.s×t.sub.m/K.sub.m)]; in which α is a coefficient between 0.85 and 1.15, and A=−21570×ent.sub.int.sup.2−18.6×D.sub.h+19.0×e.sub.int−2.5×e.sub.ext+0.1244 B=−11760×D.sub.h×e.sub.int+9.7×e.sub.int+3.1×e.sub.ext+0.04517. D.sub.h is the mean hydraulic diameter of the passages, e.sub.int is the minimum thickness of the internal walls between the passages, e.sub.ext is the minimum thickness of the peripheral wall of the filter.

The present invention discloses a microstructured discrimination device for separating hydrophobic-hydrophilic fluidic composites comprising particulate and/or fluids in a fluid flow. The discrimination is the result of surface energy gradients obtained by physically varying a textured surface and/or by varying surface chemical properties, both of which are spatially graded. Such surfaces discriminate and spatially separate particulate and/or fluids without external energy input. The device of the present invention comprises a platform having bifurcating microchannels arranged radially. The lumenal surfaces of the microchannels may have a surface energy gradient created by varying the periodicity of hierarchically arranged microstructures along a dimension. The surface energy gradient is varied in two regions. In one pre-bifurcation region the surface energy gradient generates a fluid flow. In the other post-bifurcation region, there is a difference in surface energy proximal to the bifurcation such that different flow fractions are divided into separate channels in response to different surface energy gradients in each of the post-bifurcation channels. Accordingly, fluids of different hydrophobicity and/or particulate of different hydrophobicity are driven into separate channels by a global minimization of the fluid system energy.

A separation recovery system for separating and recovering an object to be separated includes a metal porous membrane which has a first principal surface and a second principal surface facing the first principal surface and has a plurality of through-holes extending between the first principal surface and the second principal surface, a supply device which supplies a first fluid containing the object to be separated from the first principal surface of the metal porous membrane toward the second principal surface, and a backwash device which supplies a second fluid containing a plurality of particles larger than a size of the plurality of through-holes of the metal porous membrane in a direction from the second principal surface of the metal porous membrane toward the first principal surface.

A flow control device is including a tubular body including a tubular wall with an inner surface, an outer surface, and one or more openings extending from the outer surface to the inner surface through the tubular wall; a faired body encircling the tubular body, the faired body including a radially inner surface and a radially outer surface; and a flow shield encircling the faired body, the flow shield including a radially inward surface and a radially outward surface, the radially inward surface being in a facing spaced relationship with the radially outer surface of the faired body defining a passageway therebetween, wherein the passageway is fluidly connected to the one or more openings.

An adsorbent bed, including at least one elementary composite structure that includes adsorbent particles in a polymer matrix, wherein the adsorbent bed has a bed packing, ρ.sub.bed, defined as a volume occupied by the at least one elementary composite structure V.sub.ecs divided by a volume of the adsorbent bed V.sub.bed where ρ.sub.bed is greater than 0.60.

Systems and methods for cleansing blood are disclosed herein. The methods include acoustically separating undesirable particles bound to capture particles from formed elements of whole blood. After introducing the capture particles to whole blood containing undesirable particles, the whole blood and capture particles are flowed through a microfluidic separation channel. At least one bulk acoustic transducer is attached to the microfluidic separation channel. A standing acoustic wave, imparted on the channel and its contents by the bulk acoustic transducer, drives the formed elements and undesirable particles bound to capture particles to specific aggregation axes. After aggregating the particles, the formed elements exit the separation channel through a first outlet and are returned to the patient. The undesirable particles, bound to the capture particles, exit through a second outlet and can be discarded to saved for later study.

Separation of the cellular components of whole blood, or other biological fluid, from plasma or serum can be achieved for assay analysis. A device for facilitating separation can include, for example, a capillary tube that accurately draws target blood volume, a pad that chemically interacts with red-blood cells, such that the red blood cells become chemically and/or physically trapped within pad material, a mechanism for plasma recovery from the pad upon diffusion or active mixing, and a dropper tip that facilitates dispensing the mixture onto a test device. The treatment of the cellular components can be performed prior to contact with a buffer solution, so release of the cellular components into the buffer solution is reduced or prevented. Additional filtration can be provided to filter any remaining cellular components in the mixture.

A composite media includes a stack with 20 or more layers, each layer including a substrate with a first major surface and an opposing second major surface; and a fiber layer deposited onto the first major surface of the substrate and including polymeric fibers with a diameter of 100 nm to 1.5 μm. Each fiber layer independently has a thickness of 5 μm to 100 μm, and each layer independently has a pore size of 0.1 μm to 10 μm. A filter may include a housing and the composite media disposed within the housing. The filter may be a syringe filter.