Automated method for sterile processing of cells by centrifugation and column chromatography

An automated computer-controlled process for sterile handling of a sample of blood or bone marrow cells in a cell separation apparatus, the process comprising:

• (a) flowing cells from the sample into a centrifuge chamber;
• (b) centrifuging the cells in the centrifuge chamber about a rotational axis;
• (c) optically monitoring the cells in the centrifuge chamber during the centrifuging to determine when to stop the centrifuging or recover the cells;
• (d) culturing a population of the cells that have been centrifuged in the centrifuge chamber in step (b) on one or a plurality of surfaces within the centrifuge chamber that are perpendicular to the rotational axis, while delivering gas and medium as needed for the culturing into the centrifuge chamber;
• (e) flowing the population of cells that have been cultured in the centrifuge chamber in step (d) to a cell separation column;
• (f) passing cells transferred in step (e) over the cell separation column so as to separate the cells into at least two separate cell populations;
• and then
• (g) delivering at least one of the cell populations separated in step (f) into an output container;
• wherein the automated process is conducted in a manner that maintains sterility of cells from the sample throughout all the aforelisted steps of the process.

An automated computer-controlled process for sterile handling of a sample of blood or bone marrow cells in a cell separation apparatus, the process comprising:

• (a) flowing cells from the sample into a centrifuge chamber;
• (b) centrifuging the cells in the centrifuge chamber about a rotational axis;
• (c) optically monitoring the cells in the centrifuge chamber during the centrifuging to determine when to stop the centrifuging or recover the cells;
• (d) transferring a population of cells that have been recovered from the centrifuge chamber in step (c) to a cell separation column;
• (e) passing the cells transferred in step (d) over the cell separation column so as to separate the cells into at least two separate cell populations;
• (f) flowing at least one of the separate cell populations back to the centrifuge chamber;
• (g) culturing cells returned to the centrifuge chamber in step (f) on one or a plurality of surfaces within the centrifuge chamber that are perpendicular to the rotational axis, while delivering gas and medium as needed for the culturing into the centrifuge chamber, and then
• (h) delivering cells cultured in the centrifuge chamber in step (g) to an output container;
• wherein the automated process is conducted in a manner that maintains sterility of cells from the sample throughout all the aforelisted steps of the process.