Control processes for a slide-scanning system comprising a carousel with a plurality of rack slots configured to receive slide racks via an exposed portion of the scanning system. In an embodiment, initializing the scanning system comprises automatically homing back-end and front-end components, wherein the front-end components comprise the carousel. An inventory of all slide racks in the carousel is automatically generated. If any slide rack was being processed by any back-end components, the slide rack is automatically unloaded into a corresponding rack slot. In addition, the carousel is automatically positioned to expose a starting subset of the rack slots within the exposed portion. This starting subset may comprise a maximum segment of adjacent empty rack slots.

Control processes for a slide-scanning system comprising a carousel with a plurality of rack slots configured to receive slide racks via an exposed portion of the scanning system. In an embodiment, initializing the scanning system comprises automatically homing back-end and front-end components, wherein the front-end components comprise the carousel. An inventory of all slide racks in the carousel is automatically generated. If any slide rack was being processed by any back-end components, the slide rack is automatically unloaded into a corresponding rack slot. In addition, the carousel is automatically positioned to expose a starting subset of the rack slots within the exposed portion. This starting subset may comprise a maximum segment of adjacent empty rack slots.

An interference image acquisition apparatus includes a light source, a beam splitter, a second reflection mirror, an imager, and a first reflection mirror. A cell is placed on one side of a transparent material, and the first reflection mirror is placed on the other side of the transparent material. In a two-beam interferometer, an optical path difference between an optical path length of a first light beam reflected by the first reflection mirror and an optical path length of a second light beam reflected by the second reflection mirror is set to a coherence length of light output from the light source or less. The imager acquires an interference image in a state in which the cell is placed at a position conjugate to an imaging plane in a first optical system between the imaging plane and the first reflection mirror.

The present invention relates to a method of reading out information from a data carrier and to a data carrier utilizing the concept of structured-illumination microscopy or saturated structured-illumination microscopy.

A shield coating on a microscope slide, and particularly a selective application of a paraffin layer to shield biomaterials and inorganic chemical deposits from microbial attack and oxidation, and more particularly, an application of a paraffin layer on a microscope slide as an exposure shield over deposited biomaterial reactive targets. The paraffin shield layer blocks the biomaterial and chemical targets from exposure, which may lead to degradation due to oxidation and provides resistance to fungal growth, while using the existing stain processing steps to remove the paraffin from the shield and co-resident tissue section.

A shield coating on a microscope slide, and particularly a selective application of a paraffin layer to shield biomaterials and inorganic chemical deposits from microbial attack and oxidation, and more particularly, an application of a paraffin layer on a microscope slide as an exposure shield over deposited biomaterial reactive targets. The paraffin shield layer blocks the biomaterial and chemical targets from exposure, which may lead to degradation due to oxidation and provides resistance to fungal growth, while using the existing stain processing steps to remove the paraffin from the shield and co-resident tissue section.

Various examples of systems and methods are provided for slide processing. In one example, among others, a system for processing microscope slides includes a slide positioner that can adjust a position of a slide and a slide treatment system that can dispense a micro stream of a fluid at a location on the slide when the slide is positioned beneath a jet nozzle of the slide treatment system. The system can include a slide sled that can align a smearing slide with a surface of the slide including a fluid sample is disposed, and support the smearing slide at a predefined angle with respect to the surface of the slide. In another example, a method includes obtaining a slide including a sample disposed on a surface, positioning the slide below to a jet nozzle, and dispensing a micro stream of a fluid onto the sample using the jet nozzle.

The present disclosure relates to methods for preparing biological samples for in situ analysis of one or more analytes wherein the biological sample has been previously affixed to a substrate, which in some cases may not be compatible with in situ analysis, for example, due to the absence of positional markers and/or fiducial markers and/or a region suitable for in situ signal detection on the substrate. In some aspects, a hydrophobic adapter having positional markers and/or fiducial markers is applied to the substrate to which a biological sample has been affixed, thus enabling in situ sample processing and analysis of the biological sample. The hydrophobic adhesive label or adapter can be used for automated microscope alignment and sample preparation.

The present disclosure relates to methods for preparing biological samples for in situ analysis of one or more analytes wherein the biological sample has been previously affixed to a substrate, which in some cases may not be compatible with in situ analysis, for example, due to the absence of positional markers and/or fiducial markers and/or a region suitable for in situ signal detection on the substrate. In some aspects, a hydrophobic adapter having positional markers and/or fiducial markers is applied to the substrate to which a biological sample has been affixed, thus enabling in situ sample processing and analysis of the biological sample. The hydrophobic adhesive label or adapter can be used for automated microscope alignment and sample preparation.

The invention discloses a method of distinguishing empty and full capsids in a virus preparation or loaded and non-loaded non-viral gene therapy vectors. The method comprises the steps of: a) providing a preparation of viral particles or gene therapy vectors; b) subjecting the preparation to interferometric scattering mass spectrometry (ISCAMS), in an interferometric scattering microscope, to generate mass distribution data for the viral particles; c) determining the levels of empty capsids and capsids comprising a genome among the viral particles or the loaded and non-loaded vectors from the mass distribution data.