An assembly for handling biological material, including a planar interface having at least one port, and a component retaining element, spaced apart from the planar interface, configured to retain a component for handling biological material, in which at least one component chosen from the planar interface and the component retaining element is moveable to bring the port and the component retaining element into registration with one another. The registration between the at least one port and the component retaining element adapted to form a fluid communication pathway may be provided between a component retained by the component retaining element and a container associated with the planar interface through the port.

Disclosed herein are microinjection chips, devices, and systems for injection of unicellular or multicellular organisms. The microinjection chip and device disclosed herein include the microfluidic features, inlet port, pre-injection reservoir, injection channel and post injection channel in fluid communication with each other. The inlet port is adapted to sequentially move individual organisms into the injection channel, which is adapted to immobilize the individual organism in fluid. The injection channel features a side wall adapted to receive a microinjection pipette without a microinjection port and to reseal when the microinjection pipette is removed.

There is provided a connector, for introducing or extracting a material to or from at least one receptacle, comprising a housing extending between a distal end and a proximal end, the housing comprising, at least at one end, a pierceable seal; a hollow needle mounted, at least partially, within the housing between the distal end and the proximal end of the housing, a first end of the hollow needle being connected or connectable to a first corresponding receptacle, and a second end of the hollow needle facing the pierceable seal at an end of the housing; and an actuating mechanism acting on the housing or the hollow needle to enable the hollow needle to pierce the pierceable seal thereby forming a communication through the pierceable seal, such that material is able to transfer through the connector.

A suction tip that sucks a biological subject includes a base tip and a sub-tip. The base tip includes a distal end portion having a distal end opening, and a tubular passage connected to the distal end opening. The sub-tip includes a suction port that sucks the biological subject, and a guide passage having one end connected to the suction port and the other end that receives the distal end portion of the base tip. The base tip and the sub-tip are coupled and integrated by externally fitting the other end of the guide passage to the distal end portion, the integration forming one suction path in which the tubular passage and the guide passage communicate with each other. The suction port has a size smaller than a size of the distal end opening.

The invention relates to a microfluidic poration device having narrow channels slightly smaller than the width of a target cell, wherein the channels are lined with a plurality of nanospikes in a row extending down the middle of the channel, i.e. in a row parallel to the sides of the channel. In one embodiment, one channel may have 2 nanospikes (or 2 nanolancets). Thus, in particular embodiments, the invention provides microfluidic poration devices capable of simultaneously squeezing cells while piercing holes in their membranes for allowing foreign molecules into cells. The holes in porated cells spontaneously close after exiting the channels, thus entrapping the foreign molecules inside of the target cells. This porated cell population has approximately a 95% viability with greater than 50% containing at least one foreign molecule.

A system for culturing cells includes a bioreactor including a scaffold on which the cells tend to adhere. The system further includes a circulatory system that intermittently flows fluid over the scaffold.

An electroporation system may include a well plate, a dispenser and a dispenser-well positioning system. The well plate may include wells, each of the wells including an interior, a first electrode adjacent the interior and a second electrode adjacent the interior and spaced from the first electrode. The first electrode and the second electrode are to apply an electrostatic field across the well. The dispenser is to dispense a cell having a diameter into each of the wells. The dispenser-well positioning system is to align each well and the dispenser such that the dispenser dispenses the cell into each well at a location spaced from the first electrode and the second electrode by a distance of at least 5 times the diameter of the cell.

An automated cell culturing device, which expands, detaches and prepares cells, ready to be implanted in vivo is disclosed. The device is composed by a multi-layered cell culture chamber, a cell preparation chamber, and critical parameters control units which automatically drive the cell culture medium circulation, change and refill. The device according to the invention is characterized in that all the components contacting cells and culture medium constitute a totally disposable “cartridge” in order to avoid cross-contamination and improve safety. The device is particularly useful for expanding and preparing mesenchymal stem cells for osteoarthritis (OA) therapy, and for other cell based therapies in mammals.

An object of the present invention is to purify and concentrate differentiating cells derived from ES cells, iPS cells, or the like without damaging them.

The above problem can be solved by an apparatus for analyzing and separating particles comprising: a flow path cartridge, an illumination unit, a detection unit for detecting particles of interest, a force generating unit, wherein a sample liquid reservoir (sample reservoir) connected to a first flow path; a fourth branched flow path and a fifth branched flow path which are connected to the first flow path; a third-A reservoir connected to the fourth branched flow path; a third-B reservoir connected to the fifth branched flow path; and a fourth reservoir for reserving particles which are not sorting; are formed on the cartridge, and each reservoir comprise a means which equalizes an air pressure in the each reservoir with an air pressure of an in-device air pressure control system, and a stream of the flow path in the cartridge is controlled by controlling the air pressure in the each reservoir through the each in-device air pressure control system.

A continuous automated perfusion culture analysis system (CAPCAS) comprises one or more fluidic systems configured to operate large numbers of biodevices in parallel. Each fluidic system comprises an input reservoir plate for receiving media; a biodevice plate comprising an array of biodevices fluidically coupled to the input reservoir plate, configured such that each biodevice has independent media delivery, fluid removal, stirring, and gas control, and each biodevice is capable of continuously receiving the media from the input reservoir plate; and an output plate fluidically coupled to the biodevice plate for real-time analysis and sampling. The operations of the CAPCAS are automated and computer-controlled wirelessly. The CAPCAS can also be used for abiotic and biotic chemical synthesis processes.