Background defocusing and clearing in ferrofluid-based capture assays
AssigneeAncera, LLC
InventorHur Koser
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Devices, methods, and systems are provided for extracting particles from a ferrofluid. Such methods may comprise receiving a flow of ferrofluid comprising target particles and background particles and generating a first, focusing magnetic field to focus the target particles towards a capture region. The capture region may capture the target particles and a plurality of background particles. A second, defocusing magnetic field may be configured to remove background particles from the capture region. A detector may be used to detect the target particles bound to the target region.
Claims9
A method for extracting target particles from a ferrofluid, the method comprising:
- receiving a flow within a microchannel, the flow comprising a plurality of target particles and background particles in a ferrofluid;
- generating a first magnetic field corresponding to a focusing excitation, the first magnetic field generated by at least two sets of electrodes arranged proximate the microchannel,
- wherein
- a first of the at least two sets of electrodes generates a first alternating current and
- a second of the at least two sets of electrodes generates a second alternating current, wherein
- the first alternating current is out of phase with the second alternating current by a phase differential;
- the focusing excitation is configured to focus the flow of a plurality of target particles to a surface of a capture region, and
- the surface of the capture region is functionalized with capture molecules each configured to bind with a target particle;
- capturing a plurality of target particles on the surface of the capture region via the binding of the target particles with the capture molecules, wherein a plurality of unbound particles collect in the capture region;
- generating a second magnetic field, different from the first magnetic field and after generation of the first magnetic field, the second magnetic field corresponding to a defocusing excitation,
- wherein
- the second magnetic field is generated by reversing the phase differential between the first alternating current and the second alternating current, and
- the defocusing excitation is configured to remove unbound particles from the capture region without removing target particles bound to the capture molecules;
- and
- detecting the bound target particles via a detector.
A method for extracting target particles from a ferrofluid, the method comprising:
- receiving a plurality of target particles and background particles in a ferrofluid in a microchannel;
- generating a first magnetic field corresponding to a focusing excitation from a first set of electrodes;
- capturing a plurality of target particles on a surface of a capture region, the surface of the capture region being functionalized with capture molecules, wherein:
- the capture molecules bind with the target particles, and
- a plurality of unbound particles collect in the capture region;
- and
- generating a second magnetic field corresponding to a defocusing excitation to remove unbound particles from the capture region without removing target particles bound to the capture molecules.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.