| abstract |
The disclosure relates to devices, solutions and methods to collect and process our body fluids that contain cells (as well as methods for the collection, and processing and / or analysis of other fluids including toxic and / or dangerous substances / fluids). In addition, the disclosure is generally related to genomic function studies and to the isolation and preservation of saliva cells and other body fluids (eg, urine), for cellular analysis. With respect to the devices for collecting body fluids, some modalities include two coupling structures, a lid and a tube (for example), where, in some modalities, the lid includes a closed interior space to retain a conservative solution of the sample and is coupled with the tube to constitute the sample collection device (closed). Upon coupling, the conservative solution flows into the closed interior space to preserve the cells in the body fluid. The tube is configured to receive the sample from a body fluid donor (eg saliva, urine), which can then be subjected to processing to extract a plurality of cells. The plurality of cells can be further processed to isolate one and / or another type of cell therefrom. The plurality of cells, as well as the type (s) of isolated cells can be analyzed for genomic and epigenetic functional studies, as well as biomarker discovery. |