Abstract:
The present invention provides a particle transporting system including a holder, a vibrator and a tube. The vibrator connects the holder to provide vibration to the holder. The tube spirally surrounds the holder. A method of operating a particle transporting system is provided. The method includes the following steps: (a) providing a particle transporting system as shown above; (b) injecting a sample fluid with plural particles into the tube; and (c) transporting the sample fluid with the particles to a target apparatus with vibration provided by the vibrator.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of priority of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/044,335 filed on Sep. 1, 2014, which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The present invention relates to a particle transportation system and a method of operating the same, and more particularly, the present invention is related to a particle transportation system with a vibrator and a spiral tube and a method of operating the same. 
         [0004]    2. Description of the Prior Art 
         [0005]    If particles in a fluid flow are transported from the top of a funnel-shaped syringe, they tend to aggregate at the bottom of the funnel-shaped syringe due to the force of gravity. Eventually, the particles obstruct the channel where they can&#39;t pass through. The situation is even more serious especially in a sticky fluid. For example, cells in blood aggregate more easily at the bottom of the funnel-shaped syringe especially when liquid blood transforms into a semisolid, gel-like state of consistency which is called blood coagulation. 
         [0006]    In order to overcome the aforementioned situation, some methods are provided in order to prevent particle aggregation and enhance the movement of particles in a fluid flow. One of the methods is to keep the particles-contained fluids well blended at the bottom of the funnel-shaped syringe by using magnetic stir bars. However, the method is a time consuming and labor intensive process. Moreover, the efficiency for preventing particle aggregation is limited. There is still a need for developing a more convenient method and system with high efficiency to address the aforementioned problems. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    The present invention therefore provides a particle transporting system so as to avoid above particle aggregation problem. 
         [0008]    According to one embodiment, the present invention provides a particle transporting system including a holder, a vibrator and a tube. The vibrator connects the holder to provide vibration to the holder. The tube spirally surrounds the holder. In another embodiment, a method of operating a particle transporting system is provided. The method includes the following steps: (a) providing a particle transporting system as shown above; (b) injecting a sample fluid with plural particles into the tube; and (c) transporting the sample fluid with the particles to a target apparatus with vibration provided by the vibrator. 
         [0009]    By both using the vibrator and the spiral tube, the particle transporting system set forth in the present invention can enhance the movement of particles in a fluid flow. Thus, particle aggregation problem in conventional arts can be solved. 
         [0010]    These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0011]      FIG. 1  to  FIG. 7  show schematic diagrams of the particle transporting system according to different embodiments of the present invention. 
           [0012]      FIG. 8  shows a flow chart of the operating method of the particle transporting system according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0013]    To provide a better understanding of the presented invention, preferred embodiments will be described in detail. The preferred embodiments of the present invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings with numbered elements. 
         [0014]    Please refer to  FIG. 1 , which shows a schematic diagram of the particle transporting system according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the particle transporting system  300  includes a holder  302 , a tube  304 , and a vibrator  314 . The holder  302  is used to provide the main support for the particle transporting system  300 . In the present invention, the holder  302  has an outer surface  302 A, such as a cylinder outer surface in one embodiment. The holder  302  can be made of any suitable material such as plastic or metal. The tube  304  spirally surrounds the outer surface  302 A of the holder  302  with a gentle slope, clockwise or counterclockwise. In the present invention, the tube  304  has only one opening  306 , preferably positioned at lower terminal of the holder  302 , to provide the sample fluid in and out. The vibrator  314  is connected to the holder  302  to provide appropriate vibration to the holder  302  as well as the tube  304 . The vibrator  314  can be any commercial vibrator that can provide vibration, including but not limited to, a vibrating motor that is improperly balanced. There is an off-centered weight attached to the motor&#39;s rotational shaft that causes the motor to wobble. The amount of wobble can be changed by the amount of weight that is attached, the weight&#39;s distance from the shaft, and the speed at which the motor spins. In one embodiment, the holder  302  can be hollow in order to accommodate other component, such as the vibrator  314 . 
         [0015]    Please see  FIG. 8 , which shows a flow chart of the using method according to one embodiment of the present invention. Please refer to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 8 . A particle transporting system and a sample fluid with particles are provided (step  500 ). The sample fluid can be of any type including solution or vapor and is not limited thereto. In one embodiment, the sample fluid is blood. The particles  310  can be bio-particles or non-bio particles or their combinations. In one embodiment, bio-particles include cells, bacteria or spores, while non-bio particles include beads, magnetic beads, but are not limited thereto. Next, the sample fluid is injected into the tube (step  502 ). The sample fluid with the particles  310  are delivered, for example, through the opening  306  into the tube  304  where the sample fluid can be accumulated. In one embodiment, the volume of the tube  304  can be adjusted so as to accumulate more sample fluid. For example, the inner diameter of the tube  304  can be altered. Alternatively, as shown in  FIG. 2 , the spiral tube  304  can surround the holder  302  with more laps so as to gain a greater volume. 
         [0016]    The sample fluid with particles  310  is transported to a target apparatus with vibration provided by the vibrator (step  504 ). The target apparatus can be any apparatus used to collect or analysis the particles  310 , such as cell flow analyzer, fluorescence spectrometry, and is not limited thereto. Since the spiral tube  304  has a gentle slope and thus decreases the moving rate of the particles  310  contained therein due to the force of gravity. In addition, by using the vibrator  314 , the friction between the particles  310  in a fluid flow and the inner surfaces of the spiral tube  304  can be reduced. Thus, the particles  310  in a fluid flow can move without aggregation. It is understood the slope of the spiral tube  304  can be adjusted depending on the size of the particles, the weight of the particles, the parameters of the fluid . . . , or other factors. As shown in  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , a gentle slope is provided in the embodiment of  FIG. 2  by making the tube  304  surrounding more laps. It is also possible to change the shape of the outer surface  302 A of the holder  302  to change the slope. 
         [0017]    Please see  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 4 , which shows schematic diagrams of the particle transporting system according to two embodiments of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 3 , the outer surface  302 A of the holder  302  has a syringe shape in which the crossing section thereof shrinks from top to bottom. On the contrary, as shown in  FIG. 4 , the crossing section of the holder  302  shrinks from bottom to top. 
         [0018]    Please see  FIG. 5 , which shows a schematic diagram of the particle transporting system according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 5 , the holder  302  is hollow and has an inner surface  302 B wherein the tube  304  spirally surrounds the inner surface  302 B. In this embodiment, the hollow holder  302  is much easy to vibrate because it has less weight. Similarly, the shape of the inner surface  302 B can be altered so as to adjust the slope of the tube  304 . 
         [0019]    Please see  FIG. 6 , which shows a schematic diagram of the particle transporting system according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 6 , the vibrator  314  and the holder  302  are monolithic. That is, the vibrator  314  or a part of the vibrator  314  can itself serves as the holder and the tube  304  directly surrounds the vibrator  314  or a part of the vibrator  314 . It is understood that this embodiment can also incorporated into any previous embodiments. 
         [0020]    Please see  FIG. 7 , which shows a schematic diagram of the particle transporting system according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 7 , the spiral tube  304  has two openings  306 A and  306 B. In this embodiment, the opening  306 A can connect to a sample fluid with particles  310  and the opening  306 B is connected to a target apparatus. When the sample fluid flows through the opening  306 A into the tube  304 , the vibrator  314  starts provide vibration, and then the particles  310  can flow to the target apparatus without aggregation. Similarly, this embodiment can also be incorporated into any previous embodiments. 
       Example 1 
     Materials and Methods 
       [0021]    The holder is a cylinder which is made of polystyrene and has an outer diameter of 10 mm. 
         [0022]    The vibrator has the following characteristics: 
       Operating Voltage: 2.5˜3.5V DC 
     Starting Voltage: 1.5 V DC Max 
     Rated Speed: 10000±2000 rpm 
     Rated Current: 70 mA Max 
     Vibration Displacement: 1.5 mm 
     Vibration Frequency: 10 to 55 Hz 
     Outer Diameter (O.D.): 6 mm 
       [0023]    The spiral tube fully surrounds an outer surface of the holder and is a cylindrical pipe which has the following characteristics: Material: Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) 
         [0000]    Internal Diameter (I.D.): 0.04 inch
 
Outer diameter (O.D.): 0.0625 inch
 
       Length: 170 mm 
     Experiment 
       [0024]    Fluorescent PC9 cells (about 300 cells) with PBS (100 μl) or with PBMC-contained Wash Medium (100 μl, RPMI+5% FBS; peripheral blood mononuclear cells are prepared from 2 ml blood using Leucosep method) are delivered by the aforementioned spiral tube which surrounds the aforementioned vibrator. Flush the cells with 0.3 ml Wash Medium (RPMI+5% FBS) at flow of 1.2 ml/hr and then wash with PBS at flow of 4.8 ml/hr for 12 minutes. The fluorescent PC9 cells are eventually captured by antibodies coated on chip (Capture Antibody: biotinylated mouse anti-EpCAM (250 μg/ml) coating for 1 hr at room temperature (25° C.), and then wash three times with 100 μl PBS). 
         [0025]    The fluorescent PC9 cells captured by the aforementioned antibodies and the uncaptured fluorescent PC9 cells in the waste tank are both counted to evaluate the recovery rate. Recovery rate=The fluorescent PC9 cells captured by antibodies and those uncaptured in waste tank/total fluorescent PC9 cells initially added. 
       Results 
       [0026]    The recovery rate of the fluorescent PC9 cells with PBS is 93.8% (305/325). The recovery rate of the fluorescent PC9 cells with PBMC is 91.7% (321/350). The results show that the system comprising a vibrator and a spiral tube and the method described above can enhance the movement of particles in a fluid flow and thus the recovery rate is high. 
       Control Experiment 
     Materials and Methods 
       [0027]    Materials and methods are the same as Example 1 except that a 1 ml funnel-shaped syringe and a magnetic stir bar are substituted for the holder, the vibrator and the spiral tube. 
       Results 
       [0028]    The recovery rate of the fluorescent PC9 cells with PBS is 73.3% (257/345). The recovery rate of the fluorescent PC9 cells with PBMC is 68.1% (203/298). The results show that the recovery rate is low in comparison with that of Example 1. 
         [0029]    It is proved that the particle transporting system can enhance the movement of cells in a fluid flow without aggregation. 
         [0030]    Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.