Methods and apparatus for separation of particles

1 . A method of enriching stem cells comprising the steps of:

removing a desired volume of stem cell starting product from a donor/patient to obtain a stem cell starting product;

loading the stem cell starting product into a fluid chamber;

flowing a low density fluid into the loaded stem cell starting product in the fluid chamber;

centrifuging the fluid chamber; and

eluting off a first contaminating cell type from the stem cell starting product in the fluid chamber to create an enriched stem cell product; and

collecting the enriched stem cell product.

2 . The method of claim 1 further comprising a debulking step to remove a first contaminating cell type from the stem cell starting product.

3 . The method of claim 2 wherein the debulking step occurs before the eluting step.

4 . The method of claim 1 further comprising concentrating the enriched stem cell product.

5 . The method of claim 1 wherein the stem cell starting product further comprises bone marrow.

6 . The method of claim 1 wherein the stem cell product further comprises peripheral blood.

7 . The method of claim 1 wherein the stem cell product further comprises umbilical cord blood.

8 . The method of claim 5 wherein the step of removing bone marrow further comprises filtering the bone marrow.

9 . The method of claim 8 wherein the filtering step occurs before the loading step.

10 . The method of claim 1 further comprising eluting off a second contaminating cell type from the starting product in the fluid chamber.

11 . The method of claim 1 further comprising eluting off a third contaminating cell type from the starting product in the fluid chamber.

12 . The method of claim 1 further comprising eluting off a fourth contaminating cell type from the starting product in the fluid chamber.

13 . The method of claim 1 comprising repeating the loading, flowing, centrifuging, eluting and collecting steps as many times as necessary to obtain the desired number of enriched stem cells.

14 . The method of claim 2 comprising repeating the loading, flowing, debulking, and centrifuging steps as many times as necessary to remove undesired cells before the eluting step.

15 . The method of claim 4 further comprising repeating the concentrating step as many times as necessary to obtain the desired number of enriched, concentrated stem cells.

16 . The method of claim 1 wherein the flowing step comprises flowing a low density fluid into the fluid chamber at a flow rate of around 37 mL/min at a volume of around 500 mL.

17 . The method of claim 2 wherein the first contaminating cell type is red blood cells.

18 . The method of claim 10 wherein the second contaminating cell type is platelets.

19 . The method of claim 11 wherein the third contaminating cell type is T-cells.

20 . The method of claim 12 wherein the fourth contaminating cell type is B-cells.

21 . A method of treating a damaged organ with stem cells collected from bone marrow comprising the steps of:

removing a desired volume of bone marrow from a donor/patient to obtain a bone marrow starting product;

loading the bone marrow starting product into a fluid chamber;

flowing a low density fluid into the loaded bone marrow starting product in the fluid chamber;

centrifuging the fluid chamber;

debulking a first contaminating cell type from the bone marrow starting product in the fluid chamber;

eluting off a second contaminating cell type from the bone marrow starting product in the fluid chamber to create an enriched stem cell product;

concentrating the enriched stem cell product to obtain a concentrated, enriched stem cell product; and

injecting the concentrated enriched stem cell product into the damaged organ.

22 . The method of claim 21 further comprising determining the amount of stem cells needed to treat the damaged organ.

23 . The method of claim 21 wherein the step of injecting further comprises injecting the concentrated enriched sample into cardiac tissue.

24 . The method of claim 21 wherein the step of injecting further comprises injecting the concentrated enriched stem cell product intravenously.

25 . The method of claim 21 wherein the step of injecting further comprises injecting the concentrated enriched stem cell product intramuscularly.

26 . The method of claim 21 wherein the step of injecting further comprises injecting the concentrated enriched stem cell product both intravenously and intramuscularly.

27 . The method of claim 21 wherein the step of injecting further comprises injecting the concentrated enriched stem cell product in multiple injections.

28 . The method of claim 21 wherein the step of injecting further comprises injecting the concentrated enriched stem cell product in a single injection.