Biological Fluid Filtration System

Abstract

A biological fluid filtration system for scanning a biological fluid so as to filter potentially undesirable constituents from the biological fluid for therapeutic or diagnostic purposes. The biological fluid filtration system generally includes a fluid receiving device adapted to receive a biological fluid. A valve including an inlet, a first outlet, and a second outlet is fluidly connected to the fluid receiving device. The biological fluid within the fluid receiving device is scanned by a scanner to produce scanned data relating to the biological fluid. A control unit in communication with the scanner and the valve receives the scanned data and controls the valve based on the scanned data. The valve is controlled to direct the biological fluid through either the first or second outlet of the valve depending upon the constituents of the biological fluid identified by the control unit.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A biological fluid filtration system, comprising:
 a fluid receiving device adapted to receive a biological fluid;   a valve comprising an inlet, a first outlet, and a second outlet, wherein the inlet of the valve is fluidly connected to the fluid receiving device;   a scanner configured to scan the biological fluid within the fluid receiving device to produce a scanned data relating to the biological fluid within the fluid receiving device; and   a control unit in communication with the scanner and the valve, wherein the control unit is configured to receive the scanned data from the scanner, and wherein the control unit is configured to control the valve based on the scanned data from the scanner;   wherein the control unit is configured to control the valve to (a) direct the biological fluid through the first outlet if the control unit determines that the scanned data indicates a presence of an undesirable constituent within the biological fluid or (b) direct the biological fluid through the second outlet if the control unit determines that the scanned data does not indicate a presence of an undesirable constituent within the biological fluid.   
     
     
         2 . The biological fluid filtration system of  claim 1 , wherein the fluid receiving device is comprised of a microfluidic channel. 
     
     
         3 . The biological fluid filtration system of  claim 2 , further comprising an inlet valve fluidly connected to an inlet of the microfluidic channel for pausing flow of the biological fluid into the microfluidic channel. 
     
     
         4 . The biological fluid filtration system of  claim 1 , wherein the undesirable constituent is comprised of an unknown constituent. 
     
     
         5 . The biological fluid filtration system of  claim 1 , wherein the undesirable constituent is comprised of a tumor cell. 
     
     
         6 . The biological fluid filtration system of  claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to compare the scanned data to a reference data. 
     
     
         7 . The biological fluid filtration system of  claim 6 , wherein the reference data is comprised of a characteristic of a healthy cell. 
     
     
         8 . The biological fluid filtration system of  claim 6 , wherein the reference data is comprised of an image of a healthy cell. 
     
     
         9 . The biological fluid filtration system of  claim 1 , wherein the scanned data is comprised of an image of one or more constituents of the biological fluid. 
     
     
         10 . The biological fluid filtration system of  claim 1 , wherein the scanned data is comprised of a characteristic of one or more constituents of the biological fluid. 
     
     
         11 . The biological fluid filtration system of  claim 1 , wherein the fluid receiving device is comprised of a plurality of microfluidic channels. 
     
     
         12 . The biological fluid filtration system of  claim 11 , wherein each of the plurality of microfluidic channels are arranged in parallel. 
     
     
         13 . The biological fluid filtration system of  claim 11 , wherein the scanner is configured to scan each of the plurality of microfluidic channels. 
     
     
         14 . The biological fluid filtration system of  claim 1 , wherein the biological fluid is comprised of blood, cerebrospinal fluid, or lymphatic fluid. 
     
     
         15 . The biological fluid filtration system of  claim 1 , wherein the first outlet of the valve is fluidly connected to a reservoir. 
     
     
         16 . The biological fluid filtration system of  claim 1 , wherein the second outlet of the valve is fluidly connected to a source of the biological fluid. 
     
     
         17 . The biological fluid filtration system of  claim 1 , wherein the scanner is comprised of an optical scanner. 
     
     
         18 . The biological fluid filtration system of  claim 17 , wherein the optical scanner is comprised of a digital holographic microscope. 
     
     
         19 . The biological fluid filtration system of  claim 17 , wherein the optical scanner includes a monochromatic laser. 
     
     
         20 . The biological fluid filtration system of  claim 17 , wherein the optical scanner includes a light emitting diode. 
     
     
         21 . A method of filtering a biological fluid using the biological fluid filtration system of  claim 1 , comprising:
 receiving the biological fluid by the fluid receiving device;   scanning the biological fluid within the fluid receiving device by the scanner;   directing the biological fluid through the first outlet if the control unit determines that the scanned data indicates a presence of an undesirable constituent within the biological fluid; and   directing the biological fluid through the second outlet if the control unit determines that the scanned data indicates a presence of an undesirable constituent within the biological fluid.   
     
     
         22 . The biological fluid filtration system of  claim 1 , further comprising a microfluidic separation module fluidly connected to an inlet of the fluid receiving device for removing one or more constituents from the biological fluid. 
     
     
         23 . The biological fluid filtration system of  claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to determine that the scanned data indicates the presence of the undesirable constituent when the control unit detects the undesirable constituent within the scanned data. 
     
     
         24 . The biological fluid filtration system of  claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to determine that the scanned data indicates the presence of the undesirable constituent when the control unit detects an unknown constituent within the scanned data. 
     
     
         25 . The biological fluid filtration system of  claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to determine that the scanned data does not indicate the presence of the undesirable constituent when the control unit detects only desirable constituents within the scanned data. 
     
     
         26 . A biological fluid filtration system, comprising:
 a fluid receiving device adapted to receive a biological fluid, wherein the fluid receiving device includes a plurality of microfluidic channels;   a valve comprising an inlet, a first outlet, and a second outlet, wherein the inlet of the valve is fluidly connected to the fluid receiving device;   a scanner configured to scan the biological fluid within the fluid receiving device to produce a scanned data relating to the biological fluid within the fluid receiving device, wherein the scanner is comprised of an optical scanner; and   a control unit in communication with the scanner and the valve, wherein the control unit is configured to receive the scanned data from the scanner, wherein the control unit is configured to compare the scanned data to a reference data, and wherein the control unit is configured to control the valve based on the scanned data from the scanner;   wherein the control unit is configured to control the valve to (a) direct the biological fluid through the first outlet if the control unit determines that the scanned data indicates that the biological fluid consists of only desirable constituents or (b) direct the biological fluid through the second outlet if the control unit determines that the scanned data does not indicate that the biological fluid consists of only desirable constituents.   
     
     
         27 . The biological fluid filtration system of  claim 26 , further comprising a microfluidic separation module fluidly connected to an inlet of the fluid receiving device for removing one or more constituents from the biological fluid. 
     
     
         28 . The biological fluid filtration system of  claim 26 , wherein the control unit is configured to determine that the scanned data does not indicate that the biological fluid consists of only desirable constituents when the control unit detects an undesirable constituent within the scanned data. 
     
     
         29 . The biological fluid filtration system of  claim 26 , wherein the control unit is configured to determine that the scanned data does not indicate that the biological fluid consists of only desirable constituents when the control unit detects an unknown constituent within the scanned data. 
     
     
         30 . The biological fluid filtration system of  claim 26 , wherein the control unit is configured to determine that the scanned data indicates that the biological fluid consists of only desirable constituents when the control unit detects only desirable constituents within the scanned data. 
     
     
         31 . A method of filtering a biological fluid, comprising:
 receiving a biological fluid by a fluid receiving device;   scanning the biological fluid within the fluid receiving device by a scanner;   receiving a scanned data of the biological fluid by a control unit;   directing the biological fluid through a first outlet of a valve by the control unit if the control unit determines that the scanned data indicates a presence of an undesirable constituent within the biological fluid; and   directing the biological fluid through a second outlet of the valve by the control unit if the control unit determines that the scanned data does not indicate a presence of an undesirable constituent within the biological fluid.   
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 31 , further comprising the step of determining that the scanned data indicates the presence of the undesirable constituent by the control unit when the control unit detects the undesirable constituent within the scanned data. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 31 , further comprising the step of determining that the scanned data indicates the presence of the undesirable constituent by the control unit when the control unit detects an unknown constituent within the scanned data. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 31 , further comprising the step of determining that the scanned data does not indicate the presence of the undesirable constituent by the control unit when the control unit detects only desirable constituents within the scanned data. 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 31 , further comprising the step of removing one or more constituents from the biological fluid by a microfluidic separation module before the biological fluid is scanned by the scanner.