Tissue processing apparatus and method for processing adipose tissue

An apparatus for processing human biological material containing stringy tissue, the apparatus comprising;

• a container having an internal containment volume, the internal containment volume including a tissue retention volume and a filtrate volume;
• a filter disposed within the internal containment volume with the tissue retention volume on one side of the filter and the filtrate volume on another side of the filter with the tissue retention volume and the filtrate volume being in fluid communication through the filter;
• an inlet port in fluid communication with the tissue retention volume and configured to access the tissue retention volume for introducing human biological material into the tissue retention volume;
• a suction port in fluid communication with the filtrate volume and configured to access the filtrate volume for suctioning material from the filtrate volume;
• a tissue collector disposed in the tissue retention volume and rotatable relative to the container in at least a first direction of rotation about an axis of rotation, the tissue collector including at least one toothed member that sweeps through a portion of the tissue retention volume when the tissue collector is rotated in the first direction, the toothed member being configured with a plurality of teeth to collect and retain stringy tissue when the tissue collector is rotated in the first direction in contact with human biological material containing stringy tissue disposed in the tissue retention volume;
• and
• wherein, each said toothed member has a first end located radially toward the axis and a second end located radially away from the axis, each said toothed member includes between the first end and the second end at least three teeth and an open space between the teeth of each pair of adjacent said teeth and the teeth project toward a leading side of the toothed member when the tissue collector is rotated in the first direction.