Systems and user interface for collecting a data set in a flow cytometer

• US 10,031,064 B2
• Filed: 01/22/2016
• Issued: 07/24/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accuri Cytometers, Inc. (Becton, Dickinson & Co)
• Original Assignee: Accuri Cytometers, Inc. (Becton, Dickinson & Co)
• Inventors: Rich, Collin A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Negin, Russell Scott
• Application Number:
  US15/004,521
• Publication Number:
  US 20160139025A1
• Time in Patent Office: 914 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/0208 using focussing or collimating elements, e.g. lenses or mirrors; performing aberration correction
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/0229 using masks, aperture plates, spatial light modulators or spatial filters, e.g. reflective filters
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/18 using diffraction elements, e.g. grating gratings per se G02B
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/2803 using photoelectric array detector
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 3/36 Investigating two or more bands of a spectrum by separate detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 15/14 Optical investigation techniques, e.g. flow cytometry
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 15/1404 Handling flow, e.g. hydrodynamic focusing
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 15/1429 Signal processing
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 15/1434 Optical arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06M 11/02 using an electron beam scanning a surface line by line, e.g. of blood cells on a substrate
• CPC Class Codes: G16B 45/00 ICT specially adapted for bioinformatics-related data visualisation, e.g. displaying of maps or networks
• CPC Class Codes: G16B 5/00 ICT specially adapted for modelling or simulations in systems biology, e.g. gene-regulatory networks, protein interaction networks or metabolic networks
• CPC Class Codes: G16B 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass

Abstract

Systems in a flow cytometer having an interrogation zone and illumination impinging the interrogation zone include: a lens subsystem including a collimating element that collimates light from the interrogation zone, a light dispersion element that disperses collimated light into a light spectrum, and a focusing lens that focuses the light spectrum onto an array of adjacent detection points; a detector array, including semiconductor detector devices, that collectively detects a full spectral range of input light signals, in which each detector device detects a subset spectral range of the full spectral range of light signals; and a user interface that enables a user to create a set of virtual detector channels by grouping detectors in the detector array, such that each virtual detector channel corresponds to a detector group and has a virtual detector channel range including the sum of subset spectral ranges of the detectors in the corresponding detector group.

Claims

1. An optical and detection system for a flow cytometer having a flow channel with an interrogation zone and an illumination source that impinges the interrogation zone from a particular direction, the optical system comprising:

a lens subsystem including;

a collimating element comprising an achromatic doublet lens, wherein the collimating element receives and collimates light from the interrogation zone;

an aplanatic meniscus lens optically paired with the achromatic doublet lens, wherein the combination of the achromatic doublet lens and the aplanatic meniscus lens has an effective focal length of approximately 20 millimeters;

a light dispersion element that disperses the collimated light into a continuous wavelength spectrum of light;

a focusing lens that focuses the spectrum of light onto an array of adjacent detection points; and

a plurality of contiguous detectors that detect light at the adjacent detection points.

2. The optical system of claim 1, wherein the light dispersion element disperses the collimated light with an acute fold angle.

3. The optical system of claim 2, wherein the light dispersion element includes a dispersive prism.

4. The optical system of claim 2, wherein the light dispersion element includes a diffraction grating.

5. The optical system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of contiguous detectors are arranged in a linear array of detectors.

6. The optical system of claim 5, wherein the linear array of detectors includes a plurality of photodiodes.