An apparatus for sorting cells includes a measurement volume that contains a cell to be measured, a light source that provides light to cause an emission by a fluorescent label attached to the cell, and an optic device that directs the light through the measurement volume. The apparatus flows the cells through the measurement volume such that as the cell flows through the measurement volume, it interacts with the light, resulting in a change in light originating from the measurement volume, the change in light is a fluorescence emission. Another optic device directs a portion of the light originating from the measurement volume to a detector, which detects the portion of the light. A processor operably coupled to the detector generates an estimate of DNA quantity in the cell based on the change in light originating from the measurement volume, and determines a characteristic of the cell from the estimate.

Methods for separating cells from a sample (e.g., separating fetal red blood cells from maternal blood) include introducing a sample including cells into one or more microfluidic channels. In one embodiment, the device includes at least two processing steps. For example, a mixture of cells is introduced into a microfluidic channel that selectively allows the passage of a desired type of cell, and the population of cells enriched in the desired type is then introduced into a second microfluidic channel that allows the passage of the desired cell to produce a population of cells further enriched in the desired type. The selection of cells is based on a property of the cells in the mixture, for example, size, shape, deformability, surface characteristics (e.g., cell surface receptors or antigens and membrane permeability), or intracellular properties (e.g., expression of a particular enzyme).

A microfluidic chip orients and isolates components in a sample fluid mixture by two step focusing, where sheath fluids compress the sample fluid mixture in a sample input channel in one direction, such that the sample fluid mixture becomes a narrower stream bounded by the sheath fluids, and by having the sheath fluids compress the sample fluid mixture in a second direction further downstream, such that the components are compressed and oriented in a selected direction to pass through an interrogation chamber in single file formation for identification and separation by various methods. The isolation mechanism utilizes external, stacked piezoelectric actuator assemblies disposed on a microfluidic chip holder, or piezoelectric actuator assemblies on-chip, so that the actuator assemblies are triggered by an electronic signal to actuate jet chambers on either side of the sample input channel, to jet selected components in the sample input channel into one of the output channels.

A method of processing and storing biological cells includes introducing a flowable medium into a microfluidic device, the flowable medium including biological cells; sequestering one or more biological cells from the flowable medium in one or more isolation regions of the microfluidic device; and freezing the microfluidic device including the one or more biological cells sequestered therein.

Automated microfluidic systems and methods are described for purifying, extracting, and optionally analyzing magnetic target entities such as cells, e.g., bound to one or more magnetic beads.

Methods and systems are provided for point-of-care nucleic acid amplification and detection. One embodiment of the point-of-care molecular diagnostic system includes a cartridge and an instrument. The cartridge can accept a biological sample, such as a urine or blood sample. The cartridge, which can comprise one or more of a loading module, lysis module, purification module and amplification module, is inserted into the instrument which acts upon the cartridge to facilitate various sample processing steps that occur in order to perform a molecular diagnostic test.

A system and method for determining a trajectory parameter of particles, comprising receiving a plurality of particles at a microfluidic channel, applying a force to each particle of the microfluidic channel, acquiring a dataset of each particle, measuring a trajectory of the particle, and determining a trajectory parameter of the particles.

A microfluidic device and a biological detection method using the microfluidic device are provided. The microfluidic device includes a sample mixing area, an optical indicator mixing area and an observation area. The sample mixing area stores barcode beads and configured to receive a test sample to mix the barcode beads with the test sample, in which the barcode beads correspond to different detecting targets. The optical indicator mixing area is configured to receive an optical indicator and the barcode beads to mix the barcode beads with the optical indicator. The observation area is configured to receive the barcode beads from the optical indicator mixing area. In the biological detection method, at first, images of the barcode beads are captured. Thereafter, images of reacted barcode beads are determined, and values of barcode patterns thereof are recognized to determine reacting targets of the test sample.

Described herein are multimodal test cards. The test cards include a shared architecture with interchangeable test zones. The test cards are particularly useful for diagnostic testing.

An embodiment includes a sample receiving region, a first diagnostic element that includes one or more colorimetric analysis regions, and a second diagnostic element that includes one or more lateral flow assay analysis regions. The embodiment also includes a first flow path that allows a portion of a liquid deposited at the sample receiving region to flow to the first diagnostic element. The embodiment also includes a second flow path that allows a portion of the liquid deposited at the sample receiving region to flow to the second diagnostic element.