The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 25, 1999
Filed:
Oct. 14, 1997
I-Fan Wang, San Diego, CA (US);
Jerome F Ditter, Santa Ana, CA (US);
Rick Morris, Encinitas, CA (US);
USF Filtration and Separations Group Inc., Timonium, MD (US);
Abstract
The present invention relates to the field synthetic polymeric microfiltration membrane materials that are fabricated to separate liquids from solids contained therein. One aspect of the invention relates to a sulfone polymer membrane with high surface porosity (high pore density) and distinctive asymmetry that can separate solids (i.e., blood cells) from a liquid (i.e., plasma) without the need for centrifugation. The membrane is further rendered hydrophilic through co-casting the sulfone polymer (which is a hydrophobic polymer) with a hydrophilic polymer, such as polyvinylpyrrolidone. Because of these properties and the fact that it requires only a small amount of the solid containing liquid (i.e., whole blood) to be applied to the larger pore surface, the membranes of the invention are highly useful in testing devices for the quick detection of properties or components contained in liquid samples, such as diagnostic applications (i.e., the detection of physiological conditions (i.e., pregnancy, insulin levels, stomach ulcer, and the like) and infectious diseases (i.e., AIDS, hepatitis, and the like)).