CMCC 1350
Microfluidic devices for magnetic separation in continuous flow
Inventors: Donald Ingber, George Whitesides, Brian Mayers, Tom Hunt, Robert Westervelt, Shannon Xia, Eben Alsberg
Invention Types: Medical Device
Research Areas: Infectious Disease
Keywords: Patient Care
For More Information Contact: Wong, Adrienne
Invention Description:
High efficiency separation of cells, proteins or other components from the blood stream would be valuable for the isolation of rare cells (stem cells, fetal cells in maternal circulation, etc) or for cleansing the blood (of bacteria in sepsis, toxins, viruses, infected cells, etc.).
The inventors have developed a prototype device using microfabricated microfluidic channels with magnetic separation to allow continuous flow blood filtering with high volume throughput.
Applications:
This biocompatible separation technology could have broad applications for blood filtration or renal dialysis, in treating sepsis, treating blood contamination with any infectious agent or toxin, or isolation of rare cells for in vitro expansion or manipulation and re-implantation. The same configuration could also be used for the collection of stem cells, endothelial precursor cells for tissue engineering, or for collection of fetal cells from maternal blood for diagnostic applications.
Competitive Advantages:
- high volume throughput
- high efficiency of clearance
- minimal loss of blood components
- minimal risk of vessel occlusion
- long, effective product life
- compact size for treatment away from clinical setting or ambulatory use
- inexpensive to manufacture
- inexpensive manufacture
Business Opportunity:
Boston Children's Hospital is looking to co-license this technology for development.
Key Publications:
• Xia N, et al. Combined microfluidic-micromagnetic separation of living cells in continuous flow. Biomed Microdevices (2006) 8:299-308
• Yung CW, et al. Micromagnetic-microfluidic blood cleansing device. Lab Chip. 2009 May 7;9(9)
• Kang JH, et al. A combined micromagnetic-microfluidic device for rapid captur and culture of rare circulating tumor cells. Lab Chip. 2012 Jun 21;12(12)
• Cooper RM, et al. A microdevice for rapid optical detection of magnetically captured rare blood pathogens. Lab Chip. 2014 Jan 7;14(1)
IPStatus: Patented