Point-of-care fluidic systems and uses thereof

Medicilon is a Preclinical Research Outsourcing (CRO) company. With our more than 10 years experience on preclinical research services, we dedicated to provide our clients with customized preclinical services program in drug metabolism, pharmacokinetics, efficacy studies, and toxicology. We provide our clients a high-quality data and rapid turnaround time to support their drug development, preclinical studies and clinical research and to help them to select the most valuable drug candidates into clinical trials stage. Our preclinical research services consist in three major parts: pharmacokinetics, disease transplantation models and drug safety evaluation. Our services cover all of the aspects including design, in vivo studies, sample analysis, professional data analysis, IACUC review, and the preparation of application materials.Email:marketing@medicilon.com.cn Web:www.medicilon.com.

In preferred embodiments an external device communicates with the communication assembly within the readers assembly. An external device can wirelessly communicate with a reader assembly, but can also communicate with a third party, including without limitation a patient, medical personnel, clinicians, laboratory personnel, or others in the health care industry.

In some embodiments the external device can be a computer system, server, or other electronic device capable of storing information or processing information. In some embodiments the external device includes one or more computer systems, servers, or other electronic devices capable of storing information or processing information. In some embodiments an external device may include a database of patient information, for example but not limited to, medical records or patient history, clinical trial records, or preclinical trial records. In preferred embodiments, an external device stores protocols to be run on a fluidic device which can be transmitted to the communication assembly of a reader assembly when it has received an identifier indicating which fluidic device has been inserted in the reader assembly. In some embodiments a protocol can be dependent on a fluidic device identifier. In some embodiments the external device stores more than one protocol for each fluidic device. In other embodiments patient information on the external device includes more than one protocol. In preferred embodiments the external server stores mathematical algorithms to process a photon count sent from a communication assembly and in some embodiments to calculate the analyte concentration in a bodily fluid sample.

In some embodiment the external device can include one or more servers as are known in the art and commercially available. Such servers can provide load balancing, task management, and backup capacity in the event of failure of one or more of the servers or other components of the external device, to improve the availability of the server. A server can also be implemented on a distributed network of storage and processor units, as known in the art, wherein the data processing according to the present invention reside on workstations such as computers, thereby eliminating the need for a server.

A server can includes a database and system processes. A database can reside within the server, or it can reside on another server system that is accessible to the server. As the information in a database may contains sensitive information, a security system can be implemented that prevents unauthorized users from gaining access to the database.

One advantage of the present invention is that information can be transmitted from the external device back to not only the reader assembly, but to other parties or other external devices, for example without limitation, a PDA or cell phone. Such communication can be accomplished via a wireless network as disclosed herein. In some embodiments a calculated analyte concentration or other patient information can be sent to, for example but not limited to, medical personal or the patient.

Method of Use

The subject apparatus and systems provide an effective means for high throughput and real-time detection of analytes present in a bodily fluid from a subject. The detection methods may be used in a wide variety of circumstances including identification and quantification of analytes that are associated with specific biological processes, physiological conditions, disorders or stages of disorders. As such, the subject apparatus and systems have a broad spectrum of utility in, e.g. drug screening, disease diagnosis, phylogenetic classification, parental and forensic identification. The subject apparatus and systems are also particularly useful for advancing preclinical trial and clinical stage of development of therapeutics, improving patient compliance, monitoring ADRs associated with a prescribed drug, and developing individualized medicine.

Accordingly, in one embodiment, the present invention provides a method of detecting an analyte in a bodily fluid from a subject comprises providing a fluidic device comprising at least one sample collection unit, an immunoassay assembly containing immunoassay reagents, a plurality of channels in fluid communication with said sample collection unit and/or said immunoassay assembly; actuating said fluidic device and directing said immunoassay reagents within said fluidic device; allowing a sample of bodily fluid to react with said immunoassay reagents contained within said assay immunoassay assembly to yield a detectable signal indicative of the presence of said analyte in said bodily fluid; and detecting said detectable signal generated from said analyte initially collected in said sample of bodily fluid. Preferably, a sample of bodily fluid of less than about 1 ml, preferably less than about 500 ul is used for one or more of these applications.

As used herein, the term “subject” or “patient” is used interchangeably herein, which refers to a vertebrate, preferably a mammal, more preferably a human. Mammals include, but are not limited to, murines, simians, humans, farm animals, sport animals, and pets.