(46e) High Resolution Measurements of Particles Using Aperture Technology

Aperture technology (aperture pulse spectroscopy with Coulter type apertures) arguably offers the highest measurement resolution available for a wide range of in organic particles and organic cells. Instruments working by this method have previously been shown to be capable of extraordinary resolving power but demonstrations of this capability have always been restricted to artificial systems where the particles are latexes with ultra-narrow size spectra.

Here, aperture resolving power is demonstrated by following examples of very small changes in particle volume. This is most strikingly shown by tracking the tiny particle size increase of micro-carriers as mammalian cells attach and grow on the carrier surfaces. The number of cells and their rate of growth can be deduced from these small changes allowing harvesting and other decisions to be made at very precise points in time. This has important applications in the increasingly important pharmaceutical industrial use of cultured mammalian cells.

By modifying relatively simple instruments, it is also shown that such measurements need not depend on the use of expensive equipment.

By modifying relatively simple instruments, it is also shown that such measurements need not depend on the use of expensive equipment.