Project Overview

Existing blood analysis instruments and methods are not optimized for handling small sample sizes (i.e. microliters) of blood, which are commonly obtained from sources such as umbilical cords and neonatal rats in pediatric research labs. Our client would like to isolate the fraction of blood that is rich in a specific cell type known as reticulocytes in order to research a drug that aims to increase the iron content in cells. Due to the limitations of existing techniques, however, the process of removing these cells from a blood sample is challenging and time-consuming. Our design group has researched several methods and developed designs that would augment existing blood analysis methods to help facilitate reticulocyte isolation. Upon evaluating our designs, we decided on an enrichment method, which serves to increase the percentage of reticulocytes within a sample. A scale providing an extraction guideline was developed to aid in the method, and testing showed that the method successfully increased the proportion of the reticulocytes in the sample. Future work includes more extensive testing so that the scale may be refined, and could possibly include the use of software to obtain a more objective cell count.

Contact Information

Team Members

Advisor and Client

• Dr. Pamela Kling - Client