FLOW-THROUGH, IMMUNOMAGNETIC CELL-SEPARATION

A brief, process-oriented overview of immunologically based cell separ ation technology is presented. In addition, the design and preliminary experimental data of two unique flow-through immunomagnetic cell sepa ration devices are presented. The first design is based on a dipole ma gnetic field, while the second design is basis on a:quadrupole magneti c field. The dipole design can ''fractionate'' an inlet, magnetically labeled, cell stream into different outlet streams on the basis of the degree to which the cell is immunomagnetically labeled. The quadrupol e separator splits an inlet, immunomagnetically labeled, cell stream i nto two outlet Streams in which the purity, recovery, and potentially the degree to which the cells are immunomagnetically labeled is contro lled by the flow rates in the inlet and outlet flows. recovery have be en achieved with this system. Some distinct advantages of these two sy stems are the potential of high purity, recovery, and throughput at a cost which is potentially significantly lower than current, comparable technologies.