A system and method for dispense characterization is disclosed. According to particular embodiments of the dispense characterization system and method, volumes of dispensed liquids can be determined. In more particular embodiments, additional characteristics, and combinations of characteristics of a liquid dispensing event can be determined. Examples of additional characteristics that can be determined include the shape of the dispensing event, the velocity of the dispensing event, and the trajectory of the dispensing event. The dispense characterization system and method can be employed in automated biological sample analysis systems, and are particularly suited for monitoring liquid reagent dispensing events that deliver liquid reagents to a surface of a microscope slide holding a biological sample.

Embodiments of the microfluidic device may include of an array of microfluidic cell capture chambers, each functionalized with a different antibody to recognize a target antigen, and a network of code-multiplexed Coulter counters placed at strategic nodes across the device to quantify the fraction of cell population captured in each microfluidic chamber. For example, an apparatus may comprise a fluid inlet port divided into a plurality of separate microfluidic paths, each separate microfluidic path configured to transport a plurality of cells, the plurality of separate microfluidic paths, each comprising a plurality of microfluidic cell capture chambers, an outlet port to discharge a merged output of cells from the plurality of microfluidic cell capture chambers, and a plurality of sensors to detect cells passing into or out of a microfluidic cell capture chamber.

Embodiments in accordance with the present invention relate to an apparatus for optical characterization of aerosol particles, including a laser source; a beam splitter configured to split the laser into two orthogonally polarized optical beams, wherein one component of the orthogonally polarized optical beam is deflected from the second component of the polarized optical beam at a predetermined angle; a cylindrical lens for collecting the two orthogonally polarized optical beams and focusing each of the optical beams to an interrogation region; an inlet positioned to deliver the sample gas including particles to the interrogation region as a single particle gas stream through the interrogation region; an ellipsoidal mirror positioned at a non-perpendicular angle adjacent to paths traversed by the polarized optical beams to reflect scattered optical beams from the particles traversing through the interrogation region; and a photodetector for measuring the scattered optical beams reflected by the mirror.

Disclosed is an apparatus and method for fluorescence excitation and detection. The apparatus comprises one or more light sources for providing excitation light for fluorescence excitation at an observation spot along an optical axis for excitation, an optical collection element for collecting fluorescence light generated by the excitation light at two or more different observation spots into two or more different measurement channels with an optical axis for collecting non-parallel to the optical axis for excitation of each of the one or more light sources, and, for each of the two or more measurement channels and thereby for each of the two or more observation spots, a dedicated optical detector for detecting fluorescence from the fluorescence light collected by the optical collection element.

Method determining soiling of a side window of a chamber containing a sample with dispersed particles, which are irradiated with light through the chamber's inlet window. A force is exerted on the particles using the light, which influences movement of the particles dependent on particle size. Movement of the particles is detected by a camera based on a scattered light of the particles which passes through the side window. A size of the particles is ascertained via speed of the particles, after which a target scattered light intensity is calculated based on an intensity of light acting on the particles and ascertained size of the particles, and after which the target scattered light intensity is compared with a measured actual scattered light intensity and, based on a difference of the target scattered light intensity from the actual scattered light intensity, soiling of the side window is determined.

A system and method for determining a trajectory parameter of particles, comprising receiving a plurality of particles at a microfluidic channel, applying a force to each particle of the microfluidic channel, acquiring a dataset of each particle, measuring a trajectory of the particle, and determining a trajectory parameter of the particles.

Provided herein is a method of detecting microorganisms in liquid samples using image features, such as time profiles of object light scattering intensity and time profiles of object position. Related methods, devices, systems, and other aspects are also provided.

Provided is a method for determining a status of a sample comprising a co-culture comprising a target cellular object. TCO (520), and one or more stroma-forming cell types. SCT (510, a to b), wherein: the TCO (520) has been labelled with a fluorescent live-cell marker having a first emission/excitation profile, and the SCT (510, a to b) has been labelled with a fluorescent live-cell marker having a second emission/excitation profile different from the first emission/excitation profile, the method comprising the steps: capturing, during an acquisition event using a microscope, a dataset comprising: a first fluorescent image from the fluorescent live-cell marker having the first emission/excitation profile, and a second fluorescent image from the fluorescent live-cell marker having the second emission/excitation profile, and wherein: at least one dataset is captured, for each dataset, a stroma (512) is identified for the TCO (520), wherein: a stroma (512) comprises at least one cluster (514, a to d): a cluster (514, a to d) comprises a plurality of cells of the SCT (510, a to b), and each SCT (510, a to b) cell in the cluster (514, a to d) directly contacts the TCO (520) or indirectly contacts the TCO (520) via one or more other SCTs (510, a to b) cells, wherein the status of the sample is determined from at least one parameter of the stroma (512).

A Particle Tracking Velocimetry (PTV) system and method encodes particle tracks with a known monotonic intensity variation to provide high-resolution particle velocity and directionality information. One or more light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is utilized as the light source, and the intensity variation may result from a capacitance discharge rate in an LED pulsing circuit. A single-camera/single-LED system may be utilized to two-dimensional motion of particles, and a two-color system may be utilized to determine three-dimensional motion of particles toward or away from the camera.

The invention provides devices and methods for linked multimodal measurements of individual particles using a mass sensor and an additional sensor.