Methods and apparatus for single biological nanoparticle analysis
AssigneeUniversity of Washington
InventorsDaniel T. Chiu, Seung Ryoung Jung, Jingang Wang, Bryant S. Fujimoto
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Abstract
The present disclosure relates to methods, systems, and devices for performing analyses of biological nanoparticles. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to methods, systems, and devices for performing single biological nanoparticle size determination on a sample while the biological nanoparticle is in transit through a microfluidic chip. In other aspects, the present disclosure relates to methods, systems, and devices for selectively capturing biological nanoparticles on a coated planar surface, the capturing being facilitated by centrifugation.
Claims18
A method for determining the size of a biological nanoparticle in a fluid sample, the method comprising:
- providing a planar microfluidic chip comprising at least one microfluidic channel, wherein the at least one microfluidic channel comprises at least one constriction comprising a detection region;
- introducing the fluid sample into the planar microfluidic chip, the fluid sample comprising a plurality of biological nanoparticles;
- flowing a portion of the plurality of biological nanoparticles through the at least one microfluidic channel;
- illuminating in the detection region of the at least one microfluidic channel at least one biological nanoparticle from the portion of the plurality of biological nanoparticles on a particle-by-particle basis, wherein the illuminating of the at least one biological nanoparticle comprises using an illumination source having a beam width of less than 2 μm within the at least one microfluidic channel, and wherein the illumination source illuminates the detection region within the at least one microfluidic channel comprising a cross sectional area of less than 10 μm2;
- detecting epifluorescent light intensity emitted from the at least one biological nanoparticle;
- and
- assigning a size value to the at least one illuminated biological nanoparticle based on the detected epifluorescent light intensity, wherein a biological nanoparticle with a larger hydrodynamic radius emits a higher intensity of light compared to a biological nanoparticle with a smaller hydrodynamic radius, and wherein the biological nanoparticle has a hydrodynamic diameter of less than 1 μm.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.