Measurement Device and Measurement Method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017191993-A1
Application number	US-201515314008-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 1, 2015
Priority date	May 28, 2014
Publication date	Jul 6, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

Provided is a measurement device, including: a droplet forming part configured to form aerosol-like liquid droplets from a liquid in which a fluorescent substance specifically bondable to detection target particles and a specimen are mixed with each other; a droplet sorting part configured to sort droplets having a diameter smaller than a predetermined value from the droplets formed by the droplet forming part; and a measurement part configured to irradiate light onto the droplets sorted by the droplet sorting part and configured to measure the fluorescence intensity of the droplets.

First claim

1 . A measurement device, comprising:
a droplet forming part configured to form aerosol-like liquid droplets from a liquid in which a fluorescent substance specifically bondable to detection target particles and a specimen are mixed with each other; a droplet sorting part configured to sort droplets having a diameter smaller than a predetermined value from the droplets formed by the droplet forming part; and a measurement part configured to irradiate light onto the droplets sorted by the droplet sorting part and configured to measure the fluorescence intensity of the droplets.

2 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the droplet sorting part includes a spray chamber configured to sort the droplets having the diameter smaller than the predetermined value using an inertial force.

3 . The device of claim 2 , wherein the spray chamber is one selected from a group consisting of a cyclone-shaped spray chamber, a Scott-shaped spray chamber and an inertia branch-shaped spray chamber.

4 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the droplet sorting part is configured to sort droplets having a diameter of less than 20 μm.

5 . The device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a capturing part configured to cause the liquid to capture detection target particles contained in a gas, cause a fluorescent substance, which is specifically bondable to the detection target particles, to be bonded to the detection target particles existing in the liquid, and supply the liquid in which the fluorescent substance and the detection target particles are mixed with each other, to the droplet forming part.

6 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the droplet forming part includes a liquid accommodation part having a capacity of 0.1 ml to 5 ml and configured to accommodate the liquid in which the fluorescent substance specifically bondable to the detection target particles and the specimen are mixed with each other, a ring-shaped piezoelectric vibrator fitted to a lower end portion of the liquid accommodation part, and a mesh-like plate fixed to an inner side of a ring of the piezoelectric vibrator.

7 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the droplet forming part includes a liquid accommodation part having a capacity of 0.1 ml to 5 ml and configured to accommodate the liquid in which the fluorescent substance specifically bondable to the detection target particles and the specimen are mixed with each other, a liquid flow path having a width of 1 mm or less and communicating with the liquid accommodation part, a gas flow path installed so as to merge with the liquid flow path in a tip portion of the liquid flow path, and a compressed gas introduction port configured to introduce a compressed gas into the gas flow path.

8 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the measurement part is configured to measure the fluorescence intensity of the droplets in two or more kinds of different wavelength ranges.

9 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the measurement part is configured to measure the fluorescence intensity of the droplets and an intensity of a scattered light coming from the droplets.

10 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the fluorescent substance is a fluorescence-labeled antibody.

11 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the fluorescent substance is an antibody agglomeration particle whose surface is modified with a plurality of fluorescence-labeled antibodies.

12 . A measurement method, comprising:
a droplet forming step of forming aerosol-like liquid droplets from a liquid in which a fluorescent substance specifically bondable to detection target particles and a specimen are mixed with each other; a droplet sorting step of sorting droplets having a diameter smaller than a predetermined value from the droplets formed at the droplet forming step; and a measurement step of irradiating light onto the droplets passed through the droplet sorting step and measuring the fluorescence intensity of the droplets.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the droplet sorting step sorts the droplets having the diameter smaller than the predetermined value using an inertial force.

14 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the droplet sorting step sorts droplets having a diameter less than 20 μm are sorted

15 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the fluorescent substance is a fluorescence-labeled antibody.

16 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the fluorescent substance is an antibody agglomeration particle whose surface is modified with a plurality of fluorescence-labeled antibodies.

Assignees

• Tokyo Electron Ltd

Inventors

• Tamura Akitake

Classifications

• G01N33/54393

  Improving reaction conditions or stability, e.g. by coating or irradiation of surface, by reduction of non-specific binding, by promotion of specific binding · CPC title

• G01N21/64 Primary

  Fluorescence; Phosphorescence · CPC title

• G01N2001/2223

  aerosol sampling devices · CPC title

• G01N21/6486

  Measuring fluorescence of biological material, e.g. DNA, RNA, cells (G01N21/6428 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01N33/582

  with fluorescent label · CPC title