Patent ID: 11931674
Assignee: NATERA, INC.
Field: Chemical engineering (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC B  A | IPC B

Claim 0:
1. A method for processing a blood sample, the method comprising:
a. providing a tube comprising
an outer wall and a base defining an internal volume for containing the blood sample;
a chemical preservative disposed in the internal volume, wherein the chemical preservative comprises one or more of metaformaldehyde, paraformaldehyde, poloxamer, glycerol, propranolol, dex-propranolol, methacrylate monomer, methacrylate polymer, or bis-dienoyl phosphatidylcholine;
a physical separator disposed in the internal volume, wherein the physical separator substantially separates the blood sample into at least a plasma component and a blood cell component when the tube is centrifuged and prevents aspiration of the blood cell component during subsequent isolation of the plasma component from the tube; and
a blood sample disposed in the tube;

b. centrifuging the tube at a first fixed speed to separate the blood sample into at least a plasma component and a blood cell component;
c. isolating the plasma component; and
d. centrifuging the isolated plasma component at a second fixed speed to obtain further purified plasma component, wherein the first fixed speed and the second fixed speed are each independently selected from a speed ranging from 500×g to 2000×g.