Children's Hospital Research Center at Oakland

Children's Hospital Medical Center of Northern California

Childen's Hospital Medical Center of Northern California

Franciscus A Kuypers

Lanny A Gorton

Richard P Meyst

James I Wright

Robert B Cole

Albert P Pisano

Won Chul Lee

The present disclosure provides an apparatus, and methods of using same, for collecting blood from an umbilical cord in a sterile environment that includes an umbilical cord retaining assembly and a blood collection assembly rotatably connected to the umbilical cord retaining assembly. A cord cutting blade, which is carried by the blood collection assembly, functions to cut the umbilical cord when the blood collection assembly is rotated relative to the umbilical cord retaining assembly. After the umbilical cord is cut, blood flows by force of gravity into the blood collection region of the blood collection assembly to which a blood collection bag can be interconnected.

Cord collection clamp

An apparatus for analyzing individual cell composition in a heterogeneous cell population may include, in one embodiment, a deposition plate having an array of microwells disposed therein, and a cover plate substantially overlying the deposition plate. A pair of electrodes may be associated with one or more of the microwells, and may be configured to generate an electric field within the associated microwell.

Single-cell microchamber array

The invention provides a device, system and method that enables a microfluidic flow lysometer cell analyzer. Using a population of suspended living cells. cell surface molecule detection reagents, and cell cytoplasm (or nuclear) molecule detection reagents, this microfluidic cell analyzer can rapidly analyze a population of cells by running them on a one-at-a-time basis through small capillary channels. The cell's morphology or surface markers are analyzed, then the cells are lysed, and the molecules present in the cell's cytoplasm or nuclear material are analyzed. Cell morphology is then analyzed as the cell surface molecules are correlated with the molecules present in the same cell's cytoplasm or nucleic acids, and this correlated cell population data is then presented to a user for interpretation. The invention also addresses issues such as device fouling, correction for experimental artifacts (incomplete cell lyis, variable cell debris volume effects), and inadequate data collection that hampered earlier efforts in this area.

Microfluidic flow lysometer device, system and method

An apparatus and method for collecting a large volume of blood from an umbilical cord in a sterile environment are shown and described. A housing having an inner region adapted to retain an umbilical cord in a desired location is provided, the housing having an opening through which the cord extends from the inner region of the housing to a region external to the housing. The cord is cut by a blade coupled to the housing, either by the motion of the blade from a first position to a second position, or by the movement of two portions of the housing from a first extended position to a second collapsed position. The newly cut end of the umbilical cord falls and hangs freely in the inner region of the housing, blood flowing from the placenta and umbilical cord via gravity into a blood collection region of the housing. The blood collection region may be flexible, and may be coupled to a conventional blood collection bag.

Growing community of inventors

El Cerrito, CA, United States of America

Franciscus A Kuypers