Available Technology
Kits For the Isolation of Pure WBCs
Technology:
Scientists at the Kassis lab developed a methodology using a specifically designed set of centrifuge tubes that could alleviate some of these problems, allowing for the fast and easy isolation of white blood cells from a whole blood sample.
Markets Addressed
Blood samples are routinely taken from patients to examine their white blood cell population. This can be for a cellular count or a disease diagnosis. The isolation of white blood cells, or WBCs, from a blood sample is therefore, a standard process in medicine as well as in many academic laboratories. Whether it is to obtain WBC RNA or protein, to study their molecular composition, or to screen for a particular disease, it is necessary to obtain a pure population of WBCs, free from red blood cell (RBC) and plasma contamination. Current methods often require multiple steps of RBC lysis, centifugation, and removal of the buffy coat, the layer in the gradient containing the WBC. These steps can be imprecise and easily subject to manual error. Traditional methods, such as Ficoll or dextran, only isolate a specific subset of WBCs, rather than the whole population. Since current methods for WBC isolation can be subjected to user error and leave behind contaminating red blood cells, Improvements in these methods could lead to advances in the downstream research.
As the medical community strives for personalized medicine, examining the molecular makeup of a patient’s cells will be critical to knowing what treatment to apply. It is likely that many molecular diagnostic tests will require a population of white blood cells from the patient, uncontaminated by red blood cells.
Innovations and Advantages
This technology allows for easy isolation of a pure white blood cell population to be available for any number of downstream applications, including RNA analysis, protein analysis, metabolite detection, and immunotyping.
These methods can be used for disease diagnosis, therapeutic decisions, and occult tumor screening. Making these diagnostic tests cheaper and more manageable will benefit both the patient and the healthcare providers.
Additional Information
Intellectual Property Status: Patent(s) pending
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Inventor(s):
Kassis, Amin I.
Categories:
For further information, please contact:
Grant Zimmermann, Director of Business Development
(617) 495-3067
Reference Harvard Case #4132