Flow cytometry apparatus pulling sample stream through observation chamber
AssigneeUNM Rainforest Innovations
InventorsBruce S. Edwards, Larry A. Sklar, Ronald D. Salesky
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A flow cytometry apparatus includes a flow cytometer having a suction or negative-pressure intake probe, a support for a microplate having a plurality of sample wells, and motive elements operatively connected to at least one of the probe and the support for moving the intake probe and the support relative to one another so that the intake probe is sequentially aligned with different sample wells of the microplate. The apparatus has no fluid pumping elements between the support and the flow cytometer so that a bubble-separated sample stream is forced to the flow cytometer solely by virtue of a negative pressure communicated via the intake probe.
Claims12
A method for operating a flow cytometry system, comprising:
- supporting a plurality of sample wells in juxtaposition to a suction intake probe of a flow cytometer;
- feeding a stream of bubble-separated samples from said sample wells to said flow cytometer via said intake probe, the feeding of said stream of bubble-separated samples including (i) extracting a liquid sample from each of the different sample wells via said intake probe under a negative pressure force or vacuum exerted on said samples, and (ii) introducing a separation fluid, different from liquid of samples from said sample wells, between successive samples from said sample wells so that said stream of bubble-separated samples comprises a sequence of samples alternating in seriatim with the separation fluid, the introducing of said separation fluid includes aspirating the separation fluid to generate bubbles of the separation fluid between adjacent ones of said samples;
- and
- moving said stream of said bubble-separated samples to said flow cytometer, the moving of said stream of said bubble-separated samples occurring solely under a negative pressure force or vacuum exerted on said samples via said intake probe, no fluid pumping elements being disposed upstream of said flow cytometer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.