Apparatus for measuring properties of particles in a solution and related methods

A system, comprising:

• a circuit unit configured to be operably coupled to a fluid sample chip for analyzing a bodily fluid containing one or more biological cells and moving along a microchannel via capillary action, wherein the circuit unit is configured to receive signals from the fluid sample chip, and wherein the microchannel has a cross-sectional dimension smaller than an uncompressed dimension of each of the biological cells;
• and
• a controller configured to perform a process including:
• analyzing the signals received by the circuit unit to determine movement of individual ones of biological cells in the bodily fluid, wherein the signals represent the biological cells compressed by the microchannel, wherein the movement is affected by (i) a stiffness of the respective biological cell and (ii) friction between the microchannel and the respective biological cell, wherein the movement is related to a property of the biological cells, and wherein the analyzing comprises:
• measuring a first travel speed of the individual ones of the biological cells at a first region of the microchannel, and
• measuring a second travel speed of the individual ones of the biological cells at a second region of the microchannel;
• and
• determining the property of the biological cells based on the movement of the individual ones of the biological cells, wherein the movement includes a combination of the first travel speed and the second travel speed of the individual ones of the biological cells.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors in a property measuring system, cause the system to perform operations comprising:

• receiving signals corresponding to measurements of one or more biological cells in a bodily fluid through a microchannel via capillary action, wherein the microchannel has a cross-sectional dimension smaller than an uncompressed dimension of each of the biological cells such that the microchannel is sized to compress the one or more biological cells, and wherein the signals are received from one or more sensor circuits positioned along the microchannel;
• based on the signals, analyzing movement of individual ones of the biological cells moving along and compressed by the microchannel, wherein the movement is affected by (i) a stiffness of the respective biological cell and (ii) friction between the microchannel and the respective biological cell, wherein the movement is related to a property of the biological cells, and wherein the analyzing comprises:
• measuring a first travel speed of the individual ones of the biological cells at a first region of the microchannel, and
• measuring a second travel speed of the individual ones of the biological cells at a second region of the microchannel;
• and
• determining the property of the biological cells based on the analyzed movement of the individual ones of the biological cells, wherein the analyzed movement includes a combination of the first travel speed and the second travel speed of the individual ones of the biological cells.