Disclosed are devices and methods for performing biological and chemical assays, such as immunoassays and nucleic acid assays, more particularly a homogeneous assay that does not use a wash step by using the aggregation and de-aggregation processes of microparticles or nanoparticles.

A system comprises a particle sensor unit in communication with a processor. The sensor unit comprises a source that transmits light into an interrogation region; receive optics that collect scattered light from particles in the interrogation region; and an optical detector that receives the collected light from the receive optics. The detector comprises a sample area including one or more sampling pixels, and an edge region including one or more edge pixels. The processor analyzes intensity data from the detector by a method comprising: combining all intensity data from the sampling pixels; adding the combined intensity data to a data set; determining whether to accept overlap intensity data that corresponds to an overlap between the sampling pixels and the edge pixels; adding the overlap intensity data to the data set if accepted; discarding the overlap intensity data if not accepted; and discarding all non-overlapping intensity data from the edge pixels.

An observation device includes an illumination optical system and an observation optical system. The illumination optical system includes a light source and an aperture member. The observation optical system includes an objective lens, an optical structure, and a detector. The optical structure is disposed at a first position which is the position conjugate with the aperture member. The optical structure includes a blocking portion that blocks light and a transmitting portion that transmits light, the blocking portion having a shape including the shape of an image of an aperture of the aperture member which is formed on the optical structure. The detector detects dark-field light passing through the optical structure.

A method includes illuminating a drop with a pulse of light from a light source. A duration of the pulse of light is from about 0.0001 seconds to about 0.1 seconds. The method also includes capturing an image, video, or both of the drop. The method also includes detecting the drop in the image, the video, or both. The method also includes characterizing the drop after the drop is detected. Characterizing the drop includes determining a size of the drop, a location of the drop, or both in the image, the video, or both.

The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for estimating oocyte quality. A machine learning algorithm accesses oocyte training data for a mammalian species (e.g., humans) and trains a neural network to estimate oocyte quality for the mammalian species based on the oocyte training data. The neural network accesses a microscopic image of an oocyte and identifies oocyte features of the oocyte. Based on the identified oocyte features, the neural network estimates oocyte quality, including: (a) predicting a probability of a corresponding embryo maintaining sufficient developmental competence until a specified time after fertilization and (b) predicting another probability of the corresponding embryo reaching a specific embryonic stage after fertilization. An oocyte is selected, from among a plurality of human oocytes including the human oocyte, for a potential recipient based at least in part on the oocyte quality, including based on the probability and the other probability.

A portable air quality monitoring device is disclosed that can identify the type of particles in the air. This device takes images of particles in the air and compares them with a library of particles in its memory to identify the type of particles. The device has a housing that draws ambient air into the system and takes microscopic images of the flowing particles and droplets using flash photography. The device can be stand alone or can connect to the back of a mobile phone and use the mobile phone camera and light. People can upload their local air quality data online for all to see the local air quality.

A flow passage is irradiated with irradiation light, and light scattered from a particle contained in a sample passing through a detection region that is formed in a prescribed section is condensed at a position obtained by extending the prescribed section in a flow direction of the sample and captured at a prescribed frame rate. Then movement amount of the particle due to Brownian motion in directions perpendicular to the flow direction on the basis of captured plural frame images. Furthermore, a particle size of the particle is determined by correcting the movement amount using correction values that were obtained in advance corresponding to each of defocus positions for correcting errors of movement amount in the images caused by magnification.

Aspects of the present disclosure include systems for detecting light from a particle by birefringent interferometry. Systems according to certain embodiments include a light source configured to irradiate a particle propagating through a flow stream, a light detection system that includes a birefringent polarizing interferometer configured to generate interfering polarized beams of light, a light adjustment component configured to continuously convey light from the irradiated particle across different positions on the birefringent polarizing interferometer as the particle is propagated through the flow stream, a photodetector configured to detect interference patterns of the interfering polarized beams of light generated by the birefringent polarizing interferometer from light collected from the irradiated particle and generate a photodetector signal pulse in response to each detected interference pattern. Systems also include a processor for transforming the photodetector signal pulses into spectral data signals. Methods for detecting light with the subject systems are also described. Kits having one or more components for detecting light according to the subject methods are also provided.

An information processing apparatus that executes processing of obtaining, from an interference fringe image that is a two-dimensional distribution of intensity of interference fringes of object light and reference light, a phase difference image that is a two-dimensional distribution of a phase difference between the object light and the reference light, and obtaining a shape of an object to be observed based on the phase difference image includes at least one processor configured to acquire object-related information regarding the object to be observed, read out, from a storage unit in which the object-related information and a shape profile indicating the shape of the object to be observed are stored in association with each other, the shape profile corresponding to the acquired object-related information, and perform phase connection with respect to the phase difference image with reference to the read-out shape profile.

An imaging flow cytometer includes: a flow channel in which an observation object flows and a length in a width direction is longer than a length in a height direction; an acoustic element configured to apply acoustic waves as standing waves to the flow channel; a light source that irradiates the flow channel with illumination light; an image sensor configured to image at least a line included in a cross section of the observation object crossing a flow line direction which is a direction in which the observation object flows in the flow channel by measuring or imaging the observation object passing through a position irradiated with the illumination light; and circuitry configured to generate an image in which the observation object is scanned in the flow line direction on the basis of a plurality of captured images acquired by the imaging unit imaging the line in a time series.