Patent ID: 11946846
Assignee: THE BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G  B  C | IPC B  C  G

Claim 18:
19. A method for sorting sperm, comprising:
A. delivering a sample of sperm into an inlet of a fluidic system, wherein the fluidic system comprises a housing including a lower component and an upper component coupled together to form a filter chamber;
B. allowing at least some motile sperm in the sample of sperm, in a flow-free manner, to traverse a flow path in the fluidic system
i. through a horizontally-arranged filter in the filter chamber against gravity into a second chamber of the filter chamber, the second chamber positioned above a first chamber of the filter chamber and having an open outlet, and then
ii. out of the second chamber through the open outlet to exit the second chamber,
wherein the first chamber and the second chamber are separated by the filter, wherein the filter has micropores sized to permit a head of the sperm to pass therethrough, and wherein a percentage of motile sperm exiting the second chamber is greater than a percentage in the sample; and

C. harvesting sperm that have exited the second chamber to retrieve them from the fluidic system, wherein the harvested sperm comprise live, functional sperm from the sample suspended in a liquid.