The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 06, 2004
Filed:
Sep. 20, 2000
Bruce E. Miller, Newton, MA (US);
Compucyte Corporation, Cambridge, MA (US);
Abstract
The invention relates to a method and system for focusing a laser scanning cytometer. In the illustrative embodiment, during one cytometric measurement process, a single laser is used for focusing the cytometer and for taking cytometric measurements. Laser light is transmitted though an objective lens and directed at a substrate in order to cause markers in a sample on the substrate to fluoresce. A byproduct the of cytometric measurement is that a portion of the laser light incident on the substrate with or without a sample is backscattered. The objective of the illustrative system collects the backscattered light along with the fluorescing light. Optical elements separate this backscattered laser light from the fluorescing light. The illustrative system uses the backscattered light to focus the objective. According to a further feature, the illustrative system uses the backscattered light to generate a representative focal plane and/or topographical focal map of the substrate to determine the optimal focal distance for cytometric measurements made at any location on the substrate.