A disease detection system which includes an electrophoresis apparatus and a biomarker detector. The apparatus includes: (a) a transport passage; (b) a plurality of separation passages, each of the separation passages having an overlapping portion that overlaps the transport passage; and (c) a diffe
A disease detection system which includes an electrophoresis apparatus and a biomarker detector. The apparatus includes: (a) a transport passage; (b) a plurality of separation passages, each of the separation passages having an overlapping portion that overlaps the transport passage; and (c) a different biomarker concentrator in each of the overlapping portions and which concentrates at least one different biomarker from a specimen from an animal introduced into the transport passage. A plurality of the different biomarkers is associated with at least one predetermined disease, such as diabetes, heart disease or cancer. The detector detects the presence of the different biomarkers which were concentrated by the biomarker concentrators and delivered to the biomarker detector via the separation passages. First and second sets of the biomarker concentrators can be associated with respective first and second predetermined diseases and the user can determine which set will be used in each procedure.
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1. A disease detection system, comprising: an electrophoresis apparatus including: (a) a transport passage; (b) a plurality of separation passages, each of the separation passages having a separation passage overlapping portion that overlaps a different portion of the transport passage, each interse
1. A disease detection system, comprising: an electrophoresis apparatus including: (a) a transport passage; (b) a plurality of separation passages, each of the separation passages having a separation passage overlapping portion that overlaps a different portion of the transport passage, each intersection of each of the separation passages with the transport passage has a staggered configuration of the transport passage having an elongated separation passage portion that forms the respective separation passage overlapping portion where the transport passage and the separation passages connect at two separate and distinct points, the plurality of separation passages being separate and independently communicable upstream of the respective overlapping portions with a biomarker separation buffer supply or with a supply of a biomarker elution buffer or solution; (c) a different biomarker concentrator in each of the passage overlapping portions that isolates and concentrates at least one different biomarker from a specimen from an animal introduced into an inlet end of the transport passage; each set of the different biomarkers in each individual said biomarker concentrator or in the plurality of biomarker concentrators being associated with at least one predetermined disease, each of the biomarker concentrators includes at least one affinity ligand capable of attracting the respective different biomarker from the specimen wherein the at least one affinity ligand is an antibody which specifically binds to the biomarker; (d) a valve system for controlling the flow of the specimen in the transport passage from the inlet end of the transport passage to an outlet end of the transport passage, and for independently controlling a microenvironment to perform either a concentration of one or more of the biomarkers of interest or a biochemical microreaction,the valve system controlling the flow of a biomarker separation buffer in the separation passages introduced from the biomarker separation buffer supply or a plug of a biomarker elution buffer or solution in the separation passages introduced from the biomarker elution buffer supply in a sequential order from an inlet end of the respective separation passages to an outlet end of the respective separation passages,the valve system comprises a first valve in the transport passage upstream of one of the staggered configurations, a second valve in the transport passage downstream of the one of the staggered configurations, a third valve in the separation passage associated with the one of the staggered configurations and upstream of the one of the staggered configurations and a fourth valve in the separation passage and downstream of the one of the staggered configurations, the valve system independently controlling the microenvironment of the biomarker concentrator to control timing and temperature to optimize the concentration of one or more of the biomarkers of interest or to optimize one or more biochemical reactants in a microreaction within the biomarker concentrator-microreactor; anda biomarker detector that detects the presence of the different biomarkers which were concentrated by the biomarker concentrators, released from the biomarker concentrators separate, independently, and sequentially, and delivered to the biomarker detector via the separation passages,wherein the apparatus and the biomarker detector together form a portable apparatus and the valves are mechanical micro-valves. 2. The system of claim 1 wherein the specimen is a biological fluid, urine, blood, saliva, sweat, cerebro-spinal fluid, hair, nail, tissue or cell extract from the animal. 3. The system of claim 1 further comprising a CPU that transmits data associated with the detected biomarkers to an evaluator and receives feedback from the evaluator relative to the at least one predetermined disease; and wherein the CPU includes the data being transmitted over the Internet and the feedback being received from the Internet. 4. The system of claim 3 wherein the evaluator is a medical specialist remote from the electrophoresis apparatus. 5. The system of claim 1 further comprising determining means for determining from the biomarkers detected by the biomarker detector whether the animal had or was predisposed to having the at least one predetermined disease. 6. The system of claim 5 wherein the determining means includes a memory having reference data corresponding to the at least one predetermined disease and a CPU that compares the detected biomarkers with the reference data. 7. The system of claim 6 wherein the determining means includes an evaluator coupled to the CPU that determines from the detected biomarkers whether the animal had or was predisposed to having the at least one predetermined disease. 8. The system of claim 6 wherein the data is transmitted from the CPU to the evaluator over the Internet; and wherein the CPU is configured to receive over the Internet feedback from an evaluator of data associated with the biomarkers detected by the biomarker detector and transmitted to the evaluator. 9. The system of claim 1 wherein the animal is a human being, the at least one predetermined disease is diabetes, heart disease, cancer or other inflammatory disease. 10. The system of claim 1 wherein the biomarker detector comprises a single and/or a plurality of simultaneously operating detectors in a detection zone and that obtain different identification and/or structural information from the released biomarkers. 11. The system of claim 1 wherein each of the affinity ligands is bound to beads or microstructures held within the respective passage overlapping portion, or directly to an inner wall of the respective passage overlapping portion. 12. The system of claim 1 wherein the inlet end of the transport passage can be in fluid communication with a cleaning solution supply followed by a conditioning buffer supply for cleaning and conditioning at least one of the biomarker concentrators with the respective at least one biomarker captured therein after introduction of the specimen, followed by a washing buffer to remove unwanted materials bound to the transport passage and/or the concentrator. 13. The system of claim 1 wherein: an inlet of the one of the separation passages is in fluid communication separately and alternatively with a cleaning buffer supply, with a conditioning buffer supply, with a washing buffer supply, with the biomarker separation buffer supply, and with the biomarker elution buffer supply; andan inlet of another of the separation passages is in fluid communication separately and alternatively with a cleaning buffer supply, with a conditioning buffer supply, with a washing buffer supply, with the biomarker separation buffer supply, and with the biomarker elution buffer supply. 14. The system of claim 1 wherein the passages are formed in a microchip. 15. The system of claim 1 wherein the transport passage and the separation passages are formed as channels into a glass or plastic microchip. 16. The system of claim 1 wherein each of the passages is at least in substantial part a channel. 17. The system of claim 1 wherein each biomarker concentrator is a biomarker concentrator-microreactor having a plurality of immobilized affinity-capture ligands and/or a plurality of immobilized affinity-reactor ligands wherein the immobilized affinity-capture ligands and immobilized affinity-reactor ligands are antibodies. 18. The system of claim 1 wherein the biomarkers are determined from analytes. 19. The system of claim 1 wherein the disease was caused by a condition external to the animal. 20. The system of claim 1 further comprising a CPU through which a remote evaluator can transmit data associated with the detected biomarkers to the electrophoresis apparatus. 21. The system of claim 20 further comprising an updatable memory operatively connected to the CPU. 22. The system of claim 1 wherein the separation passages have an independently controlled temperature system. 23. The system of claim 1 wherein the transport passage and separation passages are capillaries. 24. The system of claim 3 wherein the CPU controls operating of said valves. 25. The system of claim 1 wherein the portable apparatus is an automated desk top apparatus. 26. A disease detection method, comprising: introducing a specimen from an animal into an inlet end of a transport passage of an electrophoresis apparatus that includes a plurality of separation passages overlapping the transport passage at respective separation passage overlapping portions of the transport passage,the electrophoresis apparatus comprising two or more biomarker concentrators positioned individually in each of the overlapping portions; each set of the different biomarkers in each individual said biomarker concentrator or in the plurality of biomarkers concentrators being associated with at least one predetermined disease, each of the biomarker concentrators includes at least one affinity ligand capable of attracting the respective different biomarker from the specimen, wherein the at least one affinity ligand is an antibody which specifically binds to the biomarker; each intersection of each of the separation passages with the transport passage has a staggered configuration having an elongated separation passage portion that forms the respective separation passage overlapping portion, the plurality of separation passages being separate and independently communicable upstream of the respective overlapping portions with a biomarker separation buffer supply or with a supply of a biomarker elution buffer or solution, anda valve system for controlling the flow of the specimen in the transport passage from the inlet end of the transport passage to an outlet end of the transport passage, and for allowing the formation of an independently controlled microenvironment to perform a concentration of one or more of the biomarkers of interest or a biochemical microreaction,the valve system controlling the flow of a biomarker separation buffer in the separation passages introduced from the biomarker separation buffer supply or a plug of a biomarker elution buffer or solution in the separation passages introduced from the biomarker elution buffer supply in a sequential order from an inlet end of the respective separation passages to an outlet end of the respective separation passages,the valve system comprises a first valve in the transport passage upstream of one of the staggered configurations, a second valve in the transport passage downstream of the one of the staggered configurations, a third valve in the separation passage associated with the one of the staggered configurations and upstream of the one of the staggered configurations and a fourth valve in the separation passage and downstream of the one of the staggered configurations;passing the specimen along the transport passage and through the overlapping portions where the different biomarkers in the specimen are captured and concentrated by the respective biomarker concentrators;causing the captured biomarkers to be released from the biomarker concentrators separate, independently, and sequentially and to flow in the respective separation passages away from the transport passage and towards a detection zone; anddetecting data relative to the released biomarkers in the detection zone. 27. The method of claim 26 further comprising: sending data associated with the detected data over the Internet to an evaluator; andafter the sending, receiving feedback over the Internet from the evaluator relative to the at least one predetermined disease. 28. The method of claim 27 wherein the evaluator is a medical specialist. 29. The method of claim 26 further comprising: using a CPU, determining from the detected biomarker data whether the animal has or is predisposed to having the at least one predetermined disease. 30. The method of claim 29 further comprising after the determining, sending data associated with the detected biomarkers over the Internet from the CPU to an evaluator. 31. The method of claim 30 further comprising after the sending, the evaluator sending biomarker evaluation feedback over the Internet to the CPU and further to a memory. 32. The method of claim 31 wherein the evaluator is a medical specialist positioned remote from the electrophoresis apparatus. 33. The method of claim 29 further comprising: the CPU comparing the detected data with reference data in a memory; and updating the reference data in the memory. 34. The method of claim 26, wherein the biomarkers are peptides. 35. The method of claim 26 wherein the animal is a human being. 36. The method of claim 26 wherein: the introducing of a first specimen into the transport passage uses only a first set of separation passages of the plurality of separation passages in the passing step, the at least one predetermined disease is a first disease; anda different second set of the separation passages of the plurality of separation passages is associated with a second disease. 37. The method of claim 36 further comprising: the specimen defining a first specimen;after the detecting, introducing a second specimen into the transport passage; andusing the second set of separation passages of the plurality of separation passages in the passing step to determine whether an animal from which the second specimen was obtained has and/or is predisposed to having the second disease. 38. The method of claim 37 wherein the first and second specimens are from the same animal. 39. The method of claim 26 wherein the detecting uses one or more of an ultraviolet detector, a fluorescent detector, a mass spectrometer detector, or an electrochemical detector; and the causing to flow of the captured biomarkers in the separation passage is by electrophoresis, electro-osmotic flow, mechanical pressure or a combination of electro-osmotic flow and mechanical pressure. 40. The method of claim 26 wherein the at least one predetermined disease is one or more of diabetes, heart disease, cancer or other inflammatory disease. 41. The method of claim 26 wherein the specimen is urine, blood, hair, nail, sweat, saliva, cerebro-spinal fluid or other biological fluid or tissue or cell extract of the animal. 42. The method of claim 26 wherein one of an anode or cathode side of the electrophoresis apparatus is generally at a buffer supply of an inlet end of at least one of the separation passages and the other side is downstream of the biomarker detector. 43. The method of claim 26 further comprising localizing at least one of the biomarker concentrators to increase the concentration of the respective biomarker therein. 44. The method of claim 43 wherein the localizing the at least one of the biomarker concentrators includes subjecting the at least one of the biomarker concentrators and/or constituents therein to gentle shaking, microwave pulsing and/or acoustic mixing. 45. The method of claim 26 wherein the at least one affinity ligands are immobilized to magnetic or non-magnetic beads or microstructures held within the biomarker concentrator-microreactors by frit structures, interconnected beads, constricted areas, by a magnet, or directly immobilized to an inner wall thereof. 46. The method of claim 26 further comprising before the passing the specimen, passing cleaning solution and then conditioning buffer through the transport passage, and after the passing the specimen, passing washing solution through the transport passage. 47. The method of claim 26 including sequentially passing cleaning buffer, then conditioning buffer through at least one of the separation passages, and before the passing specimen through the transport passage, then washing buffer, then the separation buffer and then a plug of the elution buffer through at least one of the separation passages. 48. The method of claim 26 wherein: the plurality of separation passages includes first and second separation passages;the biomarker concentrators include first and second biomarker concentrators;the electrophoresis apparatus includes a first auxiliary buffer passage on the first separation passage, downstream of the first biomarker concentrator and upstream of the detection zone; andthe electrophoresis apparatus includes a second auxiliary buffer passage on the second separation passage, downstream of the second biomarker concentrator and upstream of the detection zone; and further comprising:prior to the biomarkers being released from the first biomarker concentrator, introducing into the first separation passage and via the first auxiliary buffer passage an auxiliary separation buffer that includes an organic solvent, or a mixture of organic solvents and/or other chemical additives; andprior to the biomarkers being released from the second biomarker concentrator, introducing into the second separation passage and via the second auxiliary buffer passage an auxiliary separation buffer that includes an organic solvent, or a mixture of organic solvents and/or other chemical additives. 49. The method of claim 26 wherein the transport passage and the separation passages are formed as channels into a glass or plastic microchip. 50. The method of claim 26 wherein each of the passages is at least in substantial part a channel. 51. The method of claim 26 wherein the at least one predetermined disease is a first disease, and the detecting data includes data relative to the first disease and data relative to a second disease associated with the patient. 52. The method of claim 26 wherein the separation passages have an independently controlled temperature system. 53. The method of claim 26 wherein the transport passage and separation passages are capillaries. 54. The method of claim 29 wherein the CPU controls operating of said valves. 55. The disease detection method of claim 26 wherein the electrophoresis apparatus is a portable apparatus and is an automated desktop apparatus.
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