Devices, cartridges, and sensors for analyzing a biological sample

Abstract

Described herein are cartridges and devices for operating said cartridges for analyzing a biological sample, such as a blood or saliva sample. Also described herein is an impedance sensor for analyzing a biological sample. Further described herein are methods of determining a cell count or detecting an analyte in a biological sample, which can include transporting the biological sample through a sensor comprising a channel or pore; applying an electrical current or voltage to the channel or pore; detecting an impedance within the channel or pore; and determining a cell count or detecting the analyte based on the detected impedance. Also described herein is an electrowetting electrode array that is configured to transport aqueous solutions using low voltage, such as about 50 volts or less. Further described herein are methods of transporting an aqueous liquid using electrowetting electrodes.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A sensor, comprising:
 a first channel segment;   a second channel segment;   a pore or a channel fluidly connecting the first channel segment and the second channel segment;   an electrode pair configured to apply a multiplexed electrical current or voltage to the pore or channel; and   an electrode pair configured to detect a plurality of impedance patterns within the pore or channel, the plurality of impedance patterns comprising a first multivariate impedance pattern at a first frequency and a second multivariate impedance pattern at a second frequency, wherein the electrode pair configured to apply the multiplexed electrical current or voltage and the electrode pair configured to detect the plurality of multivariate impedance patterns are the same electrode pair or different electrode pairs.   
     
     
         2 . The sensor of  claim 1 , wherein the electrode pair configured to apply the multiplexed electrical current and the electrode pair configured to detect the plurality of multivariate impedance patterns are the same electrode pair. 
     
     
         3 . The sensor of  claim 1 , wherein the electrode pair configured to apply the multiplexed electrical current and the electrode pair configured to detect the plurality of multivariate impedance patterns are different electrode pairs. 
     
     
         4 . The sensor of  claim 1 , wherein the first multivariate impedance pattern and the second multivariate impedance pattern each comprises a real component and an imaginary component of impedance. 
     
     
         5 . The sensor of  claim 1 , wherein the first multivariate impedance pattern and the second multivariate impedance pattern each comprises a magnitude component and phase component of the impedance. 
     
     
         6 . The sensor of  claim 1 , wherein the first multivariate impedance pattern and the second multivariate impedance pattern each comprises one or more of an impedance peak height, an impedance peak width, an impedance peak area, or an impedance peak half-width peak height. 
     
     
         7 . The sensor of  claim 1 , wherein the electrode pair configured to apply the multiplexed electrical current or voltage and the electrode pair configured to detect the plurality of impedance patterns is in direct contact with an inner portion of the channel. 
     
     
         8 . The sensor of  claim 1 , wherein the sensor is configured to count a number of cells in the biological sample. 
     
     
         9 . The sensor of  claim 1 , wherein the sensor is configured to differentiate between different types of cells. 
     
     
         10 . The sensor of  claim 1 , wherein the sensor is configured to differentiate between red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. 
     
     
         11 . The sensor of  claim 1 , wherein the sensor is configured to count a number of red blood cells, a number of white blood cells, or a number of platelets. 
     
     
         12 . The sensor of  claim 1 , wherein the sensor is configured to differentiate between eosinophils, basophils, neutrophils, monocytes, and lymphocytes. 
     
     
         13 . The sensor of  claim 1 , wherein the sensor is configured to count a number of eosinophils, basophils, neutrophils, monocytes, or lymphocytes. 
     
     
         14 . The sensor of  claim 1 , where the pore or channel is a micropore or a microchannel. 
     
     
         15 . The sensor of  claim 1 , wherein the electrode pair configured to detect the plurality of impedance patterns comprises a first electrode within the first channel segment, and a second electrode within the second channel segment. 
     
     
         16 . The sensor of  claim 1 , wherein the sensor comprises the channel fluidly connecting the first channel segment and the second channel segment, and wherein the electrode pair configured to detect the plurality of impedance patterns is positioned within the channel fluidly connecting the first channel segment and the second channel segment. 
     
     
         17 . The sensor of  claim 16 , wherein the electrode pair configured to detect the plurality of impedance patterns comprises a first electrode proximal to the first channel segment, and a second electrode proximal to the second channel segment. 
     
     
         18 . The sensor of  claim 16 , wherein the electrode pair configured to detect the plurality of impedance patterns comprises a first electrode on an upper surface of the channel fluidly connecting the first channel segment and the second channel segment, and a second electrode on a lower surface of the channel fluidly connecting the first channel segment and the second channel segment, and wherein the first electrode is positioned above the second electrode. 
     
     
         29 . The sensor of  claim 1 , wherein the sensor further comprises an electrode pair configured to detect liquid flow within the sensor. 
     
     
         20 . The sensor of  claim 1 , wherein the sensor further comprises one or more isolation electrodes. 
     
     
         21 . The sensor of  claim 1 , wherein the multiplexed electrical current or voltage comprises a plurality of alternating current components at different frequencies. 
     
     
         22 . The sensor of  claim 1 , wherein the multiplexed electrical current or voltage comprises (1) a direct current component or a low-frequency alternating current, and (2) a plurality of alternating current components at different frequencies. 
     
     
         23 . The sensor of  claim 22 , wherein the plurality of alternating current components comprises at least three alternating current components. 
     
     
         24 . The sensor of  claim 22 , wherein the plurality of alternating current components comprises a first alternating current at about 10 kHz to about 100 kHz, a second alternating current at about 100 kHz to about 700 kHz, a third alternating at about 700 kHz to about 5 MHz and a fourth alternating current greater than about 5 MHz. 
     
     
         25 . The sensor of  claim 22 , wherein the plurality of alternating current components comprises at least five alternating current components. 
     
     
         26 . The sensor of  claim 26 , wherein the plurality of alternating current components comprises a first alternating current at about 50 kHz to about 250 kHz, a second alternating current at about 250 kHz to about 700 kHz, a third alternating at about 700 kHz to about 5 MHz, a fourth alternating current at about 5 MHz to about 20 MHz, and a fifth alternating current at about 20 MHz to about 150 MHz. 
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 22 , wherein the plurality of alternating current components comprises at least two different alternating current components comprising one or more alternating current below 1 MHz and one or more alternating current above 1 MHz. 
     
     
         28 . The sensor of  claim 1 , wherein the electrode pair configured to detect the plurality of impedance patterns is configured to detect impedance at a sampling rate of about 100 kHz or more. 
     
     
         29 . The sensor of  claim 1 , wherein the sensor is configured to distinguish normal cell populations from abnormal cell populations. 
     
     
         30 . A system comprising the sensor of  claim 1 , further comprising one or more processors and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or more programs comprising instructions for determining a cell count based on the multi-variate impedance pattern at each of the plurality of frequencies detected the sensor.