A method for preparing a sample by utilizing a shearing force in the presence of a size stabilizer to break apart the sample to obtain nucleic acid molecules in a usable size range. Once nucleic acid molecules are obtained, magnetic nanoparticles are used to concentrate and clean the nucleic acid molecules for further testing.

Disclosed herein is a method for separating a protein from a microorganism comprising a cell wall. Further compositions comprising a first fraction, a second fraction or both, derived from a microorganism comprising a cell wall and comprising a protein content between 10% and 90% by weight of the fraction, are also disclosed.

Disclosed is a method of mechanically crushing microalgae cells of the genus Chlorella at an industrial scale, the mechanical crushing being carried out in a horizontal ball mill system. In the method, the balls have an apparent density of between 2 and 3.5 kg/l, the filling rate of the crushing chamber is greater than or equal to 80%, and preferably greater than or equal to 85%, and the mechanical crushing is carried out continuously by a series of successive passes.

Oscillating angularly rotating a container containing a material may cause the material to be separate. Denser or heavier material may unexpectedly tend to collected relatively close to the axis of rotation, while less dense or light material may tend to collect relatively away from the axis of rotation. Oscillation along an arcuate path provides high lysing efficiency. Alternatively, a micromotor may drive an impeller removably received in a container. Lysing may be implemented in batch mode, flow-through stop or semi-batch mode, or flow-through continuous mode. Lysing particulate material may exceed material to be lysed or lysed material and/or air may be essentially eliminated from a chamber to increase lysing efficiency.

Devices and methods are provided for electrically lysing cells and releasing macromolecules from the cells. A microfluidic device is provided that includes a planar channel having a thickness on a submillimeter scale, and including electrodes on its upper and lower inner surfaces. After filling the channel with a liquid, such that the channel contains cells within the liquid, a series of voltage pulses of alternating polarity are applied between the channel electrodes, where the amplitude of the voltage pulses and a pulsewidth of the voltage pulses are effective for causing irreversible electroporation of the cells. The channel is configured to possess thermal properties such that the application of the voltage produces a rapid temperature rise as a result of Joule heating for releasing the macromolecules from the electroplated cells. The channel may also include an internal filter for capturing and concentrating the cells prior to electrical processing.

A disposable cartridge for preparing a nucleic acid sample including a stationary cartridge body and a cylindrical rotor rotationally mounted to the cartridge body. The cartridge body includes: (i) a cylindrical surface defining a fixed port and (ii) a syringe barrel defining a bore in fluid communication with the fixed port. When the disposable cartridge is disposed in combination with an assay system, syringe barrel is configured to receive a moveable plunger, i.e., to stroke the plunger into and out of the barrel. The rotor is seated within a cavity of the cartridge body such that a mating surface thereof slideably engages a cylindrical surface of the cavity. The rotor comprises a plurality of chambers fluidly connecting to a plurality of ports along the mating surface at different radial positions such that at least one of the chambers is fluidly connected to one of the ports by a connecting channel. Rotation of the rotor aligns one of the rotor ports with the fixed port such that fluid may be moved into and out of the chambers in response to axial displacement of the moveable plunger.

Devices, systems and methods including a sonicator for sample preparation are provided. A sonicator may be used to mix, resuspend, aerosolize, disperse, disintegrate, or de-gas a solution. A sonicator may be used to disrupt a cell, such as a pathogen cell in a sample. Sample preparation may include exposing pathogen-identifying material by sonication to detect, identify, or measure pathogens. A sonicator may transfer ultrasonic energy to the sample solution by contacting its tip to an exterior wall of a vessel containing the sample. Multipurpose devices including a sonicator also include further components for additional actions and assays. Devices, and systems comprising such devices, may communicate with a laboratory or other devices in a system for sample assay and analysis. Methods utilizing such devices and systems are provided. The improved sample preparation devices, systems and methods are useful for analyzing samples, e.g. for diagnosing patients suffering from infection by pathogens.

Disclosed herein are processes for obtaining a microbial oil comprising one or more polyunsaturated fatty acids (PU-FAs) from one or more microbial cells by lysing the cells to form a lysed cell composition and then recovering the oil from the lysed cell composition. Further disclosed herein is microbial oil comprising one or more PUFAs that is recovered from microbial cells by at least one process described herein.

The present disclosure provides a system and method for identifying and targeting individual cells within a cell population for selective extraction of cellular content and a digital microfluidic device having at least one hydrophilic site for receiving cells, an imaging system including a stage for receiving the digital microfluidic device and an imaging module for identifying at least one targeted cell among the cells at the at least one hydrophilic site. The system includes a pulsed laser source for laser lysing the targeted cell thereby releasing the cell content to produce a lysate. A control system controls the pulsed laser source, the imaging system and the digital microfluidic device and is programmed for coordinating steps of i) movement of droplets on the digital microfluidic device, ii) selection of the at least one targeted cell to be lysed located at the at least one hydrophilic site, iii) illumination of the at least one selected targeted cell by the pulsed laser source to lyse the at least one selected targeted cell to produce lysate, and iv) collection of the lysate.

Provided is a cell wall or cell membrane disrupting device whereby cell walls and/or cell membranes of microorganisms, algae and the like contained in organic sludge and the like are disrupted, the device comprising a fixed disc, a rotating disc, a rotating shaft for driving of the rotating disc, a pressure reducing means and a housing, wherein at least one pair of the fixed disc and rotating disc are disposed facing each other, the center section of the fixed disc has a hollow section that is larger than the outer diameter of the rotating shaft passing through the center section, shearing force generated between the rotating disc and the fixed disc is applied to a target fluid having a water content of 89% or higher that has been loaded into the device, and the pressure inside the cell wall or cell membrane disrupting device is reduced to no greater than 0.08 MPa by the pressure reducing means. The device can contribute to increasing biogas, reducing sludge, culturing of algae, plant cultivation and culturing of marine products, and also to separation of CH.sub.4 and CO.sub.2, for example, as resources.