Cell separation systems, and methods for separating cells from microcarriers, and harvesting the separated cells, are provided, wherein the system comprises a cell separation device, a cell settling device, and a cell screening device.

A circulating tumor cell capture device includes a chip system and a pump. The chip system includes a confluence chip and a lower chip set. The lower chip set is disposed at a lower surface of the confluence chip, and includes a channel chip, a split chip and a porous membrane. The channel chip is disposed at the lower surface of the confluence chip. The split chip is detachably stacked below the channel chip. The porous membrane is embedded in the channel chip. The specimen passes through the porous membrane and flow between the channel chip and the split chip to make the circulating tumor cell be captured by the porous membrane.

The invention provides a microfluidic system comprising a cartridge coupled to a motor and adapted to move a fluid sample to a plurality of locations on the cartridge.

Active surface devices for and methods of providing dried reagents in microfluidic applications is disclosed. In one example, the active surface devices include one or more dried reagent spots in relation to an active surface in the reaction (or assay) chamber thereof. In another example, the active surface devices include a dried reagent coating on the surfaces of the reaction (or assay) chamber including the active surface. In one example, the presently disclosed active surface devices are micropost-based active surface devices for providing active mixing therein. Further, a method of forming a dried reagent spot in the active surface devices is provided. Further, a method of forming a dried reagent coating in the active surface devices is provided. Further, a method of using the active surface devices for providing dried reagents in microfluidic applications is provided.

A method for separating cells in a biofluid includes pretreating the biofluid by introducing a predetermined amount of a cocktail of antibodies, flowing the pretreated biofluid through a microfluidic separation channel, and applying acoustic energy to the pretreated biofluid within the microfluidic separation channel. A system for microfluidic cell separation, capable of separating target cells from non-target cells in a biofluid includes at least one microfluidic separation channel, a source of biofluid, a source of an additive including the cocktail of antibodies, and at least one acoustic transducer coupled to the microfluidic separation channel. A kit for microfluidic cell separation is also disclosed. A method of facilitating separation of cells is also disclosed.

The present invention is directed to systems and devices that allow for separation of cells based on size and electric properties and for high-throughput cell sorting. The system may comprise a microfluidic platform having a main microfluidic channel and cavity acoustic transducers (CATs). The microfluidic platform may be coupled to an external acoustic source. The system may further comprise a fluid disposed through the main microfluidic channel comprising cells having different sizes and electric properties. The fluid may intersect the CATs to form one or more interfaces. The system may further comprise electrodes underneath the microfluidic platform. The CATs may oscillate the interfaces to produce one or more microstreaming vortices, such that each microstreaming vortex is capable of selectively trapping cells based on size. The set of electrodes may apply an AC to cause the cells to move relative to the set of electrodes based on electric properties.

A functional material for testing a liquid sample includes a based material in a sheet shape and a channel part provided on a mounting surface of the base material wherein the channel part is composed with water-permeable fibers having permeability, and water-impermeable fibers having impermeability. The water-permeable fibers and the water-impermeable fibers are arranged along the longitudinal direction of the channel part, forming voids wherein the voids are in a mesh structure in which one of the voids connects to another of the voids such that the empty spaces are linked from a base end to a tip end of the channel part. A thickness of the channel part is ranged from 20 μm mm to 5 mm, and a width of the voids is ranged from 10 μm to 200 μm, allowing the liquid sample to move from the base end to the tip end due to capillarity.

An electronically-controlled digital ferrofluidic device is disclosed which employs a network of individually addressable coils in conjunction with one or more movable permanent magnets, where each moveable permanent magnet delivers the designated fluid manipulation-based tasks. The underlying mechanism facilitating fluidic operations is realized by addressable electromagnetic actuation of miniaturized mobile magnets that exert localized magnetic body forces on droplets filled with magnetic nanoparticles. The reconfigurable, contactless, and non-interfering magnetic-field operation properties of the underlying actuation mechanism allow for the integration of passive and active components to implement advanced and diverse operations with high efficiency (e.g., droplet sorting, dispensing, generation, merging, mixing, filtering, and analysis).

A flow stabilized chip includes a chip mainbody, a buffering chamber and two fluid delivery ports. The chip mainbody has a pipe-connection surface. The buffering chamber is disposed in the chip mainbody. The two fluid delivery ports are disposed on the pipe connection surface and connected to the buffering chamber. The chip mainbody includes, in order from the pipe-connection surface to a bottom of the chip mainbody, a first base plate, a first elastic membrane, a second base plate, a second elastic membrane and a third base plate. The first base plate includes a first opening. The second base plate includes a second opening. The third base plate includes a third opening. The first elastic membrane, the second base plate and the second elastic membrane are stacked in sequence to form the buffering chamber.

Individual biological cells can be selected in a micro-fluidic device and moved into isolation pens in the device. The cells can then be lysed in the pens, releasing nucleic acid material, which can be captured by one or more capture objects in the pens. The capture objects with the captured nucleic acid material can then be removed from the pens. The capture objects can include unique identifiers, allowing each capture object to be correlated to the individual cell from which the nucleic acid material captured by the object originated.