Hollow-fibre membrane having at least one first curl in the form of a first wave which is characterized by a first oscillation plane and a first wavelength and at least one second curl in the form of a second wave which is characterized by a second oscillation plane and a second wavelength, characterized in that the first oscillation plane and the second oscillation plane confine an angle with one another which is different from zero.

Provided are: an economically superior protein crystallization method capable of efficiently finding conditions for crystallization by using a small amount of protein; and a crystallization device used for the method. According to the present invention, a transparent sealed container 1 is filled with a solution of protein, a part of the transparent sealed container 1 being formed of a semipermeable membrane 2 with a molecular weight cut-off that inhibits passage of the protein while allowing passage of a precipitant, and then, a precipitant solution with changed concentration and/or pH of the precipitant is continuously supplied to the semipermeable membrane 2, to crystallize the protein with the precipitant that infiltrates from the semipermeable membrane 2 into the sealed container 1.

A dialysis system includes: (i) a source of water made suitable for a dialysis treatment; (ii) at least one concentrate for mixing with the water from the source; (iii) a dialysis fluid pump; and (iv) a disposable set operable with the dialysis fluid pump and in fluid communication with the source of water and the at least one concentrate, the disposable set including a container having a first end and a second end, the container configured to allow the water and the at least one concentrate pumped by the dialysis fluid pump to enter at the second end and exit from the first end to mix for the dialysis treatment.

A technology that provides various modular biomimetic microfluidic modules emulating varieties of microvasculature in body. These microfluidic-base capillaries and lymphatic Technology modules are constructed as multilayered-microfluidic microchannels of various shapes, and aspect ratios using diverse biocompatible microfluidic polymers. Then, various semipermeable membranes are sandwiched in between these multilayered microfluidic microchannels. These membranes have different chemical, physical characteristics and MWCO values. Consequently, this design will produce much smaller dimension channels similar to human vasculature to achieve biomimetic properties like of human organs and tissues. By interchanging microfluidic-layers or the membranes various diverse modules are designed that act as building blocks for constructing various medical devices, various forms of dialysis devices including albumin and lipid dialysis, water purification, bioreactors bio-artificial organ support systems. Connecting various modules in diverse combinations, permutations, in parallel ad/or in series to ultimately design many unrelated medical devices such as dialysis, bioreactors and organ support devices.

A method is disclosed for forming a microporous membrane that incorporates an additive having low water solubility at the membrane's active surface from a precipitation fluid. The incorporated additive at the membrane's active surface can improve one or more of the membrane's hydrophilicity, wettability, anti-fouling behavior, blood compatibility, and stability over long periods of use or repetitive use. The microporous membrane with this modified active surface can be a hollow fiber, flat sheet, or other self-supporting shape. The microporous membranes can be used for membrane filtering or a solute and/or solvent exchange process, which involve contacting aqueous-based fluid or blood with the microporous membrane, such processes for dialysis, blood oxygenation, or blood separation filtering, or other processes.

Provided is an ion-conducting layer including: an ion conductive matrix; and a 1D composite dispersed in the ion conductive matrix and oriented in a membrane thickness direction, in which the 1D composite includes a core of a non-conductive 1D nanostructure; an intermediate layer enclosing the core and having magnetic nanoparticles bonded to a surface thereof; and a surface layer conducting the same kind of ions as ions in the matrix.

Polyurethane encapsulating compounds for the embedding of hollow fibers of filter elements are provided. These are obtainable by mixing a polyol component (A) and an isocyanate component (B) to give a reaction mixture and reacting the mixture to completion to give the polyurethane encapsulating compound, wherein the polyol component (A) comprises (a1) at least one fatty-acid-based polyol, (a2) at least one amine compound having at least one tertiary nitrogen atom and at least one isocyanate-reactive hydrogen atom and (a3) at least one metal compound that functions as a polyurethane catalyst, wherein the polyurethane catalyst (a3) does not comprise any tin, lead and/or mercury and the isocyanate component (B) comprises at least one aromatic isocyanate having at least two isocyanate groups. Further provided is a method for producing filter elements using the polyurethane encapsulating compounds and the use of the polyurethane encapsulating compounds for the embedding of hollow fibers.

A crosslinked protein-based separation membrane and application thereof. The separation membrane is formed by attaching a crosslinked protein nanomembrane to a porous membrane, the crosslinked protein nanomembrane is formed by crosslinking a two-dimensional nanomembrane which is formed by phase transition of a protein with a crosslinking agent, the separation membrane contains a dense surface layer and a support layer, the dense surface layer is the crosslinked protein nanomembrane, and the support layer is the porous membrane; the protein is any one of lysozyme, bovine serum albumin, insulin, and α-lactalbumin; the crosslinked protein-based separation membrane has a good biocompability, may serve as a dialysis membrane for blood purification, and has a higher retention ratio for large molecular proteins.

An extracorporeal blood treatment machine for carrying out a blood treatment including a machine front on which a hollow fiber filter module is arranged in a horizontal position, which hollow fiber filter module includes a cylindrical housing, a blood chamber having a blood inlet nozzle and a blood outlet nozzle and a solution chamber having a solution inlet nozzle extending transversely to the longitudinal direction of the hollow fiber filter module and a solution outlet nozzle extending transversely to the longitudinal direction of the hollow fiber filter module, the solution chamber being semi-permeably communicated at least in portions with the blood chamber, wherein a height potential is present in the horizontal position between the solution inlet nozzle and the solution outlet nozzle so that drainage of solution is enabled via one of the solution nozzles and evacuation of air bubbles is enabled via an other of the solution nozzles.

A dialyzer housing manufacturing system includes a molding device configured to mold a dialyzer housing, and a tool coupled to a robotic arm and configured to retrieve the dialyzer housing from the molding device after the dialyzer housing is molded. The tool includes a frame, a first suction cup connected to a first portion of the frame, and a second suction cup connected to a second portion of the frame, the second suction cup being oriented about 70 degrees to about 110 degrees relative to the first suction cup.