Microfluidic device for cell separation and uses thereof
First Claim
1. A method of diagnosing cancer in a patient, the method comprising:
- flowing a blood sample from a patient through a device comprising a plurality of obstacles on a substrate, wherein the obstacles are each coupled to one or more binding moieties that selectively bind to an epithelial cell or a tumor cell indicative of cancer in the patient, wherein said flowing selectively enriches said epithelial cells or tumor cells by a factor of at least 1,000 in said blood sample.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The invention features methods for separating cells from a sample (e.g., separating fetal red blood cells from maternal blood). The method begins with the introduction of 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).
-
Citations
26 Claims
-
1. A method of diagnosing cancer in a patient, the method comprising:
flowing a blood sample from a patient through a device comprising a plurality of obstacles on a substrate, wherein the obstacles are each coupled to one or more binding moieties that selectively bind to an epithelial cell or a tumor cell indicative of cancer in the patient, wherein said flowing selectively enriches said epithelial cells or tumor cells by a factor of at least 1,000 in said blood sample. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
Specification