Sample preparation for difficult sample types

Inventors

Thatcher, Stephanie Anne • Green, Jeremy Paul • Huynh, Erik Wong • Hemmert, Andrew Clinton • Montgomery, Jesse Linton • Crisp, Robert John • Rasband, Kendall A. • Ott Crowther, Elizabeth Mary • Baird, Cheryl Lynn

Assignees

Biofire Diagnostics LLC

Abstract

Devices and methods are provided for collecting and handling difficult sample types.

Core Innovation

The disclosed invention concerns a sample collection method for collecting a biological or environmental substance and providing a collected sample. The method contacts the collected sample with a swab, then places the swab with the collected sample in a sample buffer to transfer at least a portion of the collected sample into the sample buffer, and filters the sample buffer comprising collected sample to provide a sample filtrate.

A core aspect of the method is that, prior to providing the sample filtrate, the method is devoid of a pretreatment step lasting for more than 2 minutes. The collecting step is also characterized as being devoid of a swab collection step. The collection is performed by obtaining the sample from broncho-alveolar lavage (BAL), mini-BAL, bronchial washing, endotracheal aspirate (ETA), or expectorate to provide the collected sample.

In additional independent claim embodiments, the sample buffer includes a detergent in an amount of at least 10% by volume. One embodiment further limits the biological or environmental substance as a viscous substance having a viscosity of 3 cP or greater. These constraints together define a filtration-based collection workflow that emphasizes brief processing before filtrate formation and a detergent-containing sample buffer contacted through the swab.

Claims Coverage

The document provides three independent claims directed to a swab-contacted sample collection method with filtration and explicit constraints on pretreatment duration, swab-collection exclusion, and, in some embodiments, detergent content and viscous sample viscosity.

Across the independent claims, the inventive coverage centers on swab-contacted transfer of a collected biological/environmental sample into a sample buffer, followed by filtering to obtain a sample filtrate, while excluding swab-collection in the collecting step and restricting pretreatment to being devoid of any step lasting more than 2 minutes. Some embodiments further confine the sample source to BAL/mini-BAL/bronchial washing/ETA/expectorate and require at least 10% by volume detergent or a viscous sample with viscosity of 3 cP or greater.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications