| abstract |
In one aspect, the invention is directed to a method of separating at least one foetal nucleated red blood cell (FNRBC) from a sample comprising: a) placing the sample on at least one support surface b) contacting the sample with at least one antibody or antigen binding fragment thereof that specifically binds to at least one white blood cell, thereby producing at least one labelled cell; and c) providing a means capable of detection and isolation of at least one cell in the sample on the support surface, the cell comprising the features of: (i) being an unlabelled cell; (ii) comprising nucleic acid; and (iii) being 5 to 25pm in size, wherein the detection of the features (i), (ii) and (iii) is done simultaneously and the cell comprising the features (i), (ii) and (iii) is the FNRBC. |