A blood component collection cassette of a blood component collection system, which is a biological component transfer system, includes a sheet-shaped cassette main body in which a blood line is formed. The blood line includes a second applied load measurement unit and line main body portions. A separation device includes a second load measurement unit that measures a load applied to a wall portion of the second applied load measurement unit in a cassette mounted state. The second applied load measurement unit is more easily deformed than the line main body portions, and is disposed at a location within the blood line on which only a positive pressure acts.

Provided herein are methods of splitting droplets containing magnetically responsive beads in a droplet actuator. A droplet actuator having a plurality of droplet operations electrodes configured to transport the droplet, and a magnetic field present at the droplet operations electrodes, is provided. The magnetically responsive beads in the droplet are immobilized using the magnetic field and the plurality of droplet operations electrodes are used to split the droplet into first and second droplets while the magnetically responsive beads remain substantially immobilized.

Microfluidic chips, systems, and methods of making and using thereof are described. The microfluid chip includes a disc-shaped transparent layer containing a plurality of cell traps, pillars, and filers, and a support layer attached thereto. The microfluid chip has at least one inlet port in center of the transparent layer for receiving a sample of liquid and cells, and optionally a plastic cover. The microfluid chip can be designed to be suitable for the forces used for cell pairing/fusion in stationary and spinning format, or suitable for a particular cell fusion method such chemical and electrical methods. The microfluid chip is particularly suited for fusing dendritic cells and tumor cells for immunotherapy, or for generating hybridoma.

Microfluidic gradient generators that can create robust platforms that can not only be used for creating co-cultures of cells with various ratios, but also can simultaneously generate gradients of mechanical and chemical stresses. A chip utilizes microchambers embedded within channels to provide space for 3D cell culture and exposes these cells to gradients of mechanical shear stress and a chemical treatment.

Various embodiments of the teachings relate to a system or method for sample preparation or analysis in biochemical or molecular biology procedures. The sample preparation can involve small volume processed in discrete portions or segments or slugs, herein referred to as discrete volumes. A molecular biology procedure can be nucleic acid analysis. Nucleic acid analysis can be an integrated DNA amplification/DNA sequencing procedure.

Systems and methods for flowing particles, such as biological entities, in a fluidic channel(s) are generally provided. In some cases, the systems described herein are designed such that a single particle may be isolated from a plurality of particles and flowed into a fluidic channel (e.g., a microfluidic channel) and/or collected e.g., on fluidically isolated surfaces. For example, the single particle may be present in a plurality of particles of relatively high density and the single particle is flowed into a fluidic channel, such that it is separated from the plurality of particles. The particles may be spaced within a fluidic channel so that individual particles may be measured/observed over time. In certain embodiments, the particle may be a biological entity. Such article and methods may be useful, for example, for isolating single cells into individual wells of multi-well cell culture dishes (e.g., for single-cell analysis).

A microfluidic device may include an inlet, an outlet, first and second channels arranged in parallel, a first sensor pair positioned along the first channel, and a second sensor pair positioned along the second channel. The first channel may include a first upstream zone, a first downstream zone, and a first constriction zone. The second channel may include a second upstream zone, a second downstream zone, and a second constriction zone. The first sensor pair may include a first entry sensor configured to detect a first cell flowing through the first upstream zone, and a first exit sensor configured to detect the first cell flowing through the first downstream zone. The second sensor pair may include a second entry sensor configured to detect a second cell flowing through the second upstream zone, and a second exit sensor configured to detect the second cell flowing through the second downstream zone.

The present invention relates to, inter alia, a microfluidic device for capturing target cells and analyzing genomic DNA isolated from the target cells while under flow conditions. The microfluidic device includes a cell microchannel and a nucleic acid microchannel that intersect in an orthogonal manner, thereby forming a cell capture intersection region. The microfluidic device also includes a cell capture array and a nucleic acid entanglement array. The cell capture array includes a plurality of cell capturing micropillars and is located in the cell capture intersection region. The nucleic acid entanglement array includes a plurality of nucleic acid entanglement micropillars that function to physically entangle and maintain thereon genomic DNA isolated from the one or more target cell, and is located in a portion of the nucleic acid microchannel that is adjacent to and downstream of the cell capture intersection region. Methods of using the microfluidic device are also disclosed.

A system and method for processing and detecting nucleic acids from a set of biological samples, comprising: a capture plate and a capture plate module configured to facilitate binding of nucleic acids within the set of biological samples to magnetic beads; a molecular diagnostic module configured to receive nucleic acids bound to magnetic beads, isolate nucleic acids, and analyze nucleic acids, comprising a cartridge receiving module, a heating/cooling subsystem and a magnet configured to facilitate isolation of nucleic acids, a valve actuation subsystem configured to control fluid flow through a microfluidic cartridge for processing nucleic acids, and an optical subsystem for analysis of nucleic acids; a fluid handling system configured to deliver samples and reagents to components of the system to facilitate molecular diagnostic protocols; and an assay strip configured to combine nucleic acid samples with molecular diagnostic reagents for analysis of nucleic acids.

A method for producing a chemical reactor. The chemical reactor comprises one or more effective channels which comprise pillar structures, an input connected to one of the effective channels to allow fluid/gas into the effective channels and an output connected to one of the effective channels to remove at least one component of the liquid/gas. The method comprises obtaining an initial design of the reactor, further introducing into the initial design at least a structured area positioned adjacent to an effective channel of the one or more effective channels located at the edge of the initial design, the structured area not being fluidly connected to one of the effective channels, to obtain a further design and the production of the reactor according to the further design.