Areas having different isotopic ratios are artificially introduced into a metal material before sintering, a heat treatment, or Grain boundary diffusion, and atom probe analysis results before and after sintering, a heat treatment, or grain boundary diffusion are compared to evaluate a change in isotopic distribution over time.

A method for laser microdissection of a laser microdissection region of a prepared specimen includes driving a holder for the specimen into a holding position using a control device. First and second digital images are captured that depict a same portion of the prepared specimen, with the first image depicting the portion under at least one first microscopic examination method and the second image depicting the portion under at least a second microscopic examination method. A live overlay image is generated of the portion of the prepared image in a live mode. The live overlay is presented on a display area with the images overlaid onto one another. A marking is generated and captured on the live overlay image so as to define the laser microdissection region.

A method of forming a sample and performing correlative S/TEM and APM analysis is provided wherein a sample containing a region of interest is cut from a bulk of sample material and formed into an ultra-thin lamella. The lamella is then analyzed with an S/TEM to form an image. The lamella sample and mount may then go through a cleaning process to remove any contamination. The lamella containing the ROI is then embedded within a selected material and is formed into a needle-shaped sample. The needle-shaped sample is then analyzed with the APM and the resulting data is merged and correlated with the S/TEM data.

Various methods and devices for spatial molecular analysis from tissue is provided. For example, a method of spatially mapping a tissue sample is provided with a microarray having a plurality of wells, wherein adjacent wells are separated by a shearing surface; overlaying said microarray with a tissue sample; applying a deformable substrate to an upper surface of said tissue sample; applying a force to the deformable substrate, thereby forcing underlying tissue sample into the plurality of wells; shearing the tissue sample along the shearing surface into a plurality of tissue sample islands, with each unique tissue sample island positioned in a unique well; and imaging or quantifying said plurality of tissue sample islands, thereby generating a spatial map of said tissue sample. The imaging and/or quantifying may use a nucleic acid amplification technique.

Systems and methods for automated laser microdissection are disclosed including automatic slide detection, position detection of cutting and capture lasers, focus optimization for cutting and capture lasers, energy and duration optimization for cutting and capture lasers, inspection and second phase capture and/or ablation in a quality control station and tracking information for linking substrate carrier or output microdissected regions with input sample or slide.

Provided is an image-processing method including: an image-acquiring step of acquiring a divided-section image that includes the entire divided section by capturing an image of a chip array obtained by dividing a substrate into numerous chips together with a section of biological tissue on the substrate; a chip-recognizing step of recognizing chip images in the divided-section image; an attribute-information assigning step of assigning, to each of pixels that constitute the images of the recognized chips, positional information of the chip images to which those pixels belong in the image of the chip array; and a restoring step of generating a restored section image in which images of the divided section are joined into a single image by joining the chip images constituted of the pixels to which the positional information has been assigned.

Sample handling, processing and analysis methods and apparatus are described. According to one aspect, a sample processing method includes providing a sample, providing a reference frame which comprises a plurality of markers arranged in a predefined pattern, wherein individual ones of the markers are uniquely identifiable from others of the markers, and associating the reference frame comprising the markers with the sample. The markers are amenable to human or machine reading and for computational manipulation in some examples.

A method for calibrating a laser deflection device in a reflected light device of a microscope of a laser microdissection system having a digital image capturing unit comprising an image evaluation module includes generating a laser beam; guiding the laser beam through a microscope objective; directing the laser beam to a position defined by actuation signals; placing a calibration object in the object plane of the microscope objective; actuating the laser deflection device using first actuation signals and first calibration values, making at least one calibration mark on the calibration object; capturing an image of the calibration object by the digital image capturing unit; determining actual position values for the at least one calibration mark: and determining second calibration values based on a relationship between the default position values and the actual position values.

The present disclosure relates to a kit for sample preparation, the kit including a solid support surface with a polymer coating covering the solid support surface, wherein the polymer coating reduces undesired interactions between the sample and the solid support surface, a buffer comprising arginine and methionine, and a vessel for containing the solid support surface and the buffer.

The present invention is related to correct the errors in instruments, operation, and others using intelligent monitoring structures and machine learning, and others.