US 11,747,338 B2
Use of an integrated microfluidic chip for analysis of cell motility and prediction and prognosis of patient survival
Konstantinos Konstantopoulos, Ellicott City, MD (US); Colin Paul, Catonsville, MD (US); Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (US); Sagar Ramesh Shah, Clemson, SC (US); Alejandro Ruiz-Valls, Baltimore, MD (US); Christopher Yankaskas, Baltimore, MD (US); Juan Carlos Martinez-Gutierrez, Baltimore, MD (US); and Bin Sheng Wong, Baltimore, MD (US)
Assigned to THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, Baltimore, MD (US)
Appl. No. 15/780,768
Filed by THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, Baltimore, MD (US)
PCT Filed Dec. 2, 2016, PCT No. PCT/US2016/064725
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jun. 1, 2018,
PCT Pub. No. WO2017/096232, PCT Pub. Date Jun. 8, 2017.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/262,158, filed on Dec. 2, 2015.
Prior Publication US 2020/0249232 A1, Aug. 6, 2020
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G01N 33/574 (2006.01); B01L 3/00 (2006.01); G01N 33/50 (2006.01)
CPC G01N 33/574 (2013.01) [B01L 3/502761 (2013.01); G01N 33/5011 (2013.01); G01N 33/5029 (2013.01); G01N 33/5091 (2013.01); B01L 2200/0652 (2013.01); B01L 2300/0816 (2013.01); B01L 2300/0867 (2013.01); G01N 2800/7028 (2013.01)] 9 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for identifying the invasiveness of at least one cancer cell in a sample, the method comprising:
a) obtaining the at least one cancer cell from the sample;
b) incubating the at least one cancer cell for a period time sufficient to allow the at least one cancer cell to seed at the base of a migratory channel of an integrative microfluidic apparatus;
c) imaging, by an imaging system, the at least one cancer cell in the integrative microfluidic apparatus for a period of time sufficient to allow migration of migratory cancer cells of the at least one cancer cell through the migratory channel; and
d) determining a respective cancer cell of the at least one cancer cell is invasive when the respective cancer cell migrates through the migratory channel of the integrative microfluidic apparatus, wherein the migratory channel comprises:
a body segment having sufficiently reduced dimensions so as to allow only one migratory cancer cell of the at least one cancer cell to enter into a first end of the migratory channel at a time, and
a first branch and a second branch extending from a second end of the body segment, wherein the first branch and the second branch each have respective widths, and wherein the width of the first branch is different than the width of the second branch, wherein the second end of the body segment and the first and second branches meet at the bifurcation point of the migratory channel, and wherein the respective migratory cancer cell migrates through the migratory channel by entering the first end of the migratory channel and passing through the bifurcation point of the migratory channel to enter the first branch or the second branch.