Filtering member and filtering method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9360404-B2
Application number	US-201314411162-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 7, 2013
Priority date	Jun 29, 2012
Publication date	Jun 7, 2016
Grant date	Jun 7, 2016

Abstract

It has been difficult to conduct high-sensitivity, high-precision measurement due to externally generated contamination or cross-contamination. Thus, the invention includes (1) a filter unit having a filter at a bottom of a container for holding a liquid, the filter being adapted to filter a liquid, and (2) an attachment cover having a first opening and a second opening, the filter unit being attachable to and detachable from the attachment cover via the first opening, and the attachment cover being adapted to, when the filter unit is attached to the attachment cover, allow filtration by the filter in a state in which an inner face of the attachment cover is tightly in contact with an outer face of the filter unit, and discharge a resulting filtrate through the second opening.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A filtering method for filtering a liquid with a filtering member having a (1) a filter unit, (2) an attachment cover, and (3) an inner attachment;
wherein the filter unit is mounted in the attachment cover, and the inner attachment is mounted in the filter unit;
wherein the (1) filter unit has a filter at a bottom of a container adapted for holding a liquid, the filter being adapted to filter a liquid, the (2) attachment cover has a first opening and a second opening, the filter unit being attachable to and detachable from the attachment cover via the first opening, and the attachment cover being adapted to, when the filter unit is attached to the attachment cover, allow filtration by the filter in a state in which an inner face of the attachment cover is sealingly in contact with an outer face of the filter unit, and discharge a resulting filtrate through the second opening, and the (3) inner attachment having a first opening and a second opening, the inner attachment on the first opening side being attachable to and detachable from an inside of the filter unit, and the inner attachment being adapted to, when attached to the filter unit, be in contact with the filter unit such that an outer face of the inner attachment is sealingly in contact with an inner face of the filter unit;
comprising the steps of:
1) filtering a liquid sample with the filter member;
2) detaching the inner attachment from the filter unit after step 1;
3) adding a first reaction solution into the filter unit after step 2, thereby causing at least one reaction to occur between a sample trapped by the filter and the first reaction solution;
4) detaching the attachment cover from the filter unit after step 3; and
5) adding a second reaction solution into the filter unit after step 4, causing a reaction to occur between a reactant of the trapped sample and the second reaction solution in the filter unit.

2. The filtering method according to claim 1 , wherein the steps of adding the first or second reaction solutions comprise adding a reaction solution that causes at least one of the following reactions:
removal of ATP that is not derived from viable cells, removal of ATP from viable cells amplification of ATP, or extraction of ATP from the filter.

3. The filtering method according to claim 1 , wherein step 3 comprises adding a first reaction solution that causes a reaction to remove ATP from cells and a reaction to amplify ATP, and step 5 comprises adding a second reaction solution that causes a reaction to extract ATP from the filter.

4. The filtering method according to claim 1 , wherein the inner attachment is detached from the filter unit using a gripping arm controlled with a control unit.

5. The filtering method according to claim 1 , wherein the addition of at least one of the reaction solutions is executed through a nozzle and a nozzle drive mechanism.

Assignees

• Hitachi High Tech Corp

Inventors

• Okanojo Masahiro
• Noda Hideyuki
• Fukuzono Shinichi
• Harada Kunio

Classifications

• B01L3/5635 Primary

  connecting two containers face to face, e.g. comprising a filter · CPC title

• G01N2001/4088

  filtration · CPC title

• B01L2400/0487

  fluid pressure, pneumatics · CPC title

• G01N1/4077 Primary

  by other techniques involving separation of suspended solids · CPC title

• B01L2300/0681

  Filter · CPC title