Cell Grabber with Unitary Construction
AssigneeIonoptix LLC
InventorRichard T. Udale
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A cell grabber has a unitary structure including a transparent grabber head at a terminus thereof and an elongated mounting portion extending therefrom for attachment to a force transducer. The grabber head has a planar or concave bonding surface which is coated with an adhesive film to secure the specimen, especially single cells, for tensile measurements. The cell grabber may be used in connection with auxotonic, isometric or isotonic force measurement systems.
Claims20
A cell grabber having a unitary structure including a transparent grabber head at a terminus thereof and an elongated mounting portion extending therefrom, the grabber head being configured and adapted to bond to a live tissue specimen and having a bonding surface which is either planar or concave.
An ensemble of cell grabbers etched from a planar substrate comprising a plurality of cell grabbers having a monolithic structure including a transparent grabber head at a terminus thereof and an elongated mounting portion extending therefrom, the grabber head being configured and adapted to bond to a live tissue specimen and having a bonding surface which is either planar or concave, the mounting portions of each cell grabber having a terminus distal to said grabber head and being affixed to a residual carrier member of the planar substrate from which the ensemble was etched which is thereby integral with the cell grabbers.
A method of measuring tensile characteristics of a live tissue specimen comprising:
- (a) attaching the tissue specimen to a bonding surface of a cell grabber with a suitable adhesive, the cell grabber having a unitary structure including a transparent grabber head at a terminus thereof and an elongated mounting portion extending therefrom, the grabber head having the bonding surface which is either planar or concave and coated with the adhesive in order to secure the cell;
- (b) connecting the cell grabber to a force transducer;
- and
- (c) measuring the force applied by the tissue specimen.
The method of measuring tensile characteristics of a live tissue specimen according to claim 39, wherein the live tissue specimen is a single cell.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.