Method and apparatus for cell staining without cell loss
AssigneeDaegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology
InventorMin Seok Kim
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Provided is a method and apparatus for cell staining without cell loss, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for cell staining without cell loss during treatment of a staining reagent or washing reagent by immobilizing cells to be analyzed in a phase change material before staining. A method for cell staining without cell loss may effectively prevent cell loss during staining and analysis of rare cells that are becoming important in clinical diagnosis, and thus may facilitate observation, analysis and diagnosis thereby even with a trace amount of sample. In addition, as the method for cell staining without cell loss allows immobilization of cells, it makes discrimination and isolation of single cells easy, and may be effectively used in analysis of the isolated cells.
Claims8
A method for cell staining without cell loss, comprising:
- (a) inputting a phase change material and a biosample containing cells to be analyzed into a chamber;
- (b) localizing the cells to be analyzed, which are suspended in the biosample, on a bottom surface of the chamber;
- (c) inserting a thickness adjustment unit into the chamber such that a bottom surface of the thickness adjustment unit is positioned above the bottom surface of the chamber, forming a space between the bottom surface of the thickness adjustment unit and the bottom surface of the chamber;
- (d) immobilizing the cells on the bottom surface of the chamber by solidifying the phase change material;
- (e) removing the thickness adjustment unit from the chamber;
- and
- (f) staining the immobilized cells,
- wherein after the step of (e), the solidified phase change material is formed in a thickness of 300 μm or less in the space between the bottom surface of the thickness adjustment unit and the bottom surface of the chamber throughout an entire chamber, and
- wherein the phase change material is a photocurable material or heat-curable material.
A method for analyzing a single cell, comprising:
- (a) inputting a phase change material and a biosample containing cells to be analyzed into a chamber;
- (b) localizing the cells to be analyzed, which are suspended in the biosample, on a bottom surface of the chamber;
- (c) inserting a thickness adjustment unit into the chamber such that the bottom surface of the thickness adjustment unit is positioned above the bottom surface of the chamber, forming a space between the bottom surface of the thickness adjustment unit and the bottom surface of the chamber;
- (d) immobilizing the cells on the bottom surface by solidifying the phase change material;
- (e) removing the thickness adjustment unit from the chamber;
- (f) staining the immobilized cells;
- and
- (g) isolating the stained cells,
- wherein after the step of (e), the solidified phase change material is formed in a thickness of 300 μm or less in the space between the bottom surface of the thickness adjustment unit and the bottom surface of the chamber throughout an entire chamber, and
- wherein the phase change material is a photocurable material or heat-curable material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.