Process for Realising a Device for Collecting and Transferring Samples for Molecular Biology

• US 20120171712A1
• Filed: 03/08/2011
• Published: 07/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Copan Italia SpA
• Original Assignee: Copan Italia SpA
• Inventors: Triva, Daniele
• Granted Patent: US 9,504,452 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 435/29
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 10/0045 Devices for taking samples of body liquids devices for taking blood samples A61B5/15
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 10/0096 Casings for storing test samples A61B10/0038 and A61B10/0045 take precedence; preservation of living parts of the human or animal body A01N1/02; containers for retaining a material to be analysed B01L3/50; containers for enzymology or microbiology C12M1/16; swab-sampler being part of enzymology or microbiology container C12M1/30
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2010/0216 Sampling brushes
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 2400/0406 capillary forces
• CPC Class Codes: B01L 3/5029 using swabs
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 1/02 Devices for withdrawing samples sampling of foundation soil E02D1/04; collecting or conveying radioactive samples G01T7/00, e.g. G01T7/02, G01T7/08
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2001/028 Sampling from a surface, swabbing, vaporising
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 436/25375 Liberation or purification of sample or separation of material from a sample [e.g., filtering, centrifuging, etc.]

Abstract

A process for realising a device (1) for collecting and transferring samples for molecular biology, the device including at least: a support body (2) having at least a first portion (2a), and a plurality of fibres (6) attached and arranged on the first portion (2a) of the support body (2) by flocking, such as to define a flocked collecting portion (3) destined to collect, on the said collecting portion, (3) a quantity of the sample for molecular biology, the process including at least a step of pre-treating the plurality of fibres (6) with a surfactant, the step of pre-treating the plurality of fibres (6) with a surfactant being performed after application of the fibres on the support body (2) by flocking and/or before application of the fibres (6) on the body (2) by flocking and/or wherein the surfactant is added to the fibre (6) during production of the fibre (6).

Claims

1. A process for realising a device for collecting and transferring samples for molecular biology, the device comprising:

a support body (2) having at least a first portion (2a), and a plurality of fibres (6) attached and arranged on the first portion (2a) of the support body (2) by flocking, such as to define a flocked collecting portion (3) destined to collect on said collecting portion (3) a quantity of the sample for molecular biology, the process comprising pre-treating the plurality of fibres (6) with a surfactant, the step of pre-treating the plurality of fibres (6) with a surfactant being performed at least one of after application of the fibres on the support body (2) by flocking, before application of the fibres (6) on the body (2) by flocking, or during production of the fibre (6).

2. The process of claim 1, wherein the surfactant is at least one of a cationic surfactant, a quaternary ammonium compound, or a salt having a positive part, constituted by at least a chain of carbon atoms terminating with a quaternary ammonia group.

3. The process of claim 1, wherein the surfactant is benzalkonium chloride.

4. The process of claim 1, wherein the surfactant is a quaternary ammonia salt, comprises a mixture of quaternary ammonium salts, or is a mixture of chlorides of alkyl-benzyl-dimethyl ammonium, in which the alkyl group varies from octile (C₈H₁₇—

) to octadecyl (C₁₈H₃₇—

).

5. The process of claim 1, wherein the surfactant is chosen from a group consisting of:

benzalkonium chloride, cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide, benzethonium chloride, cetalkonium chloride, laurtrimonium bromide, myristyltrimethylammonium bromide, cetrimide, cetrimonium bromide, cetylpyridinium chloride and stearalkonium chloride.

6. The process of claim 1, further comprising predisposing a water-based solution comprising a percentage, a concentration value or a quantity of the surfactant in the solution of from 0.1% to 15%, or from 0.2% to 10%, or from 0.5% to 5%, or from 0.8% to 1.5% or from 0.4% to 1.2% in volume or in weight, and wherein pre-treating the plurality of fibres (6) with a surfactant is performed by imbibition of the fibres (6) in the solution, the imbibition of the fibres (6) in the solution being performed after application of the fibres (6) on the first portion (2a) of the body (2) by flocking

7. The process of claim 1, further comprising predisposing a water-based solution comprising a percentage, a concentration value or a quantity of the surfactant in the solution of from 0.1% to 15%, or from 0.2% to 10%, or from 0.5% to 5%, or from 0.8% to 1.5%, or from 0.4% to 1.2% in volume or in weight, and wherein pre-treating the plurality of fibres (6) with a surfactant is performed by imbibition of the fibres (6) in the solution, the imbibition of the fibres (6) in the solution being performed before the application of the fibres (6) on the first portion (2a) of the body (2) by flocking

8. A device (1) for collecting and transferring samples for molecular biology comprising a support body (2), having at least a first portion (2a), and a plurality of fibres (6) attached and arranged on the first portion (2a) of the support body (2) by flocking, such as to define a flocked collecting portion (3) destined to collect, on the collecting portion (3), a quantity of sample for molecular biology, the plurality of fibres (6) being pre-treated with a surfactant, such as to increase a quantity of DNA or RNA releasable by the collecting device and usable for molecular biology operations.

9. The device (1) of claim 8, wherein the surfactant is at least one of cationic or benzalkonium chloride (BAC).

10. The device (1) of claim 8, wherein the surfactant is cationic and is a salt having a positive part, constituted by at least a chain of carbon atoms terminating with a quaternary ammonium group;

and wherein the surfactant is a quaternary ammonium salt or wherein it comprises a mixture of quaternary ammonium salts.

11. The device (1) of claim 8, wherein the surfactant is a mixture of chlorides of alkyl-benzyl-dimethyl ammonium, in which the alkyl group varies from octile (C₈H₁₇—

) to octadecyl (C₁₈H₃₇—

).

12. The device (1) of claim 8, wherein the surfactant is at least one of a quaternary ammonium compound or is chosen from a group consisting of:

benzalkonium chloride, cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide, benzethonium chloride, cetalkonium chloride, laurtrimonium bromide, myristyltrimethylammonium bromide, cetrimide, cetrimonium bromide, cetylpyridinium chloride and stearalkonium chloride.

13. The device (1) of claim 8, wherein the flocked collecting portion (3) is configured such as to at least one of collect a substantially known quantity of the sample, collect a quantity of between 5 and 1000 microlitres, or between 10 microlitres and 500 microlitres, or between 50 and 200 microlitres, or between 80 and 120 microlitres of the sample or collect a quantity of sample of at least 0.5 μ

l per mm², or at least 0.6 μ

l per mm², or at least 0.7 μ

l per mm², or at least 0.75 μ

l per mm².

14. The device (1) of claim 8, wherein at least one of the fibres (6) are arranged on the first portion (2a) of the support body (2) in a substantially ordered way and such as to form a substantially continuous layer on the collecting portion (3) or the fibres (6) are arranged on the collecting portion (3) in such a way as to define a plurality of capillary interstices (9) destined to absorb the sample by capillary action.

15. The device (1) of claim 8, wherein the fibres (6) exhibit at least one of a yarn count of between 1.7 and 3.3 Dtex, or a length of between 0.6 and 3 mm.

16. The device (1) of claim 8, wherein the fibres (6) are made of at least one of nylon or of a material selected from:

polyamide, rayon, polyester, carbon fibre, alginate, natural fibre.

17. The device (1) of claim 8, wherein the collecting portion (3) exhibits a surface density of the fibres (6) on the collecting portion (3) of between 50 and 500 fibres per mm² or between 100 and 200 fibres per mm^2.

18. A method for collecting and transferring samples for molecular biology using a device (1) according to claim 8, the method comprising collecting a sample for molecular biology on at least a flocked collecting portion (3) of the collecting device (1) having a support body (2), the collecting portion (3) comprising a first portion (2a) of the support body (2) and a plurality of fibres (6) attached and arranged on the first portion (2a) of the support body (2) by flocking, the plurality of fibres (6) being pre-treated with a surfactant or with a cationic surfactant and the method further comprising conserving the sample on the collecting portion for a period of time.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein collecting a sample comprises collecting and transferring samples of DNA or RNA or cells comprising samples of DNA or RNA.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising releasing the sample for molecular biology from the collecting portion (3) in order to enable performance of operations of molecular biology on the sample.