Systems and methods for detecting toxins in a sample
First Claim
1. A method of detecting the presence of a toxin in a sample, comprisingproviding a chamber including a sample and an organism having a motility response to a toxin in the sample,acquiring an image showing an organism in the sample at a first instance in time,measuring based on the image at least one of a centroid, a size of the organism, a shape of the organism and an orientation of the organism,determining a path characteristic based at least on the image and a similar image from another instance in time, anddetecting the presence of the toxin in the sample based at least on the path characteristic.
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Abstract
In one aspect the invention provides a system for detecting the presence of toxins in a sample that includes a plurality of chambers for culturing organisms and observing the organism'"'"'s motility response when introduced into a sample containing a toxin. The toxicity measurement system may include an imaging module to monitor and track the movement of one or more organisms in the sample and identify abnormalities. In other aspects, the invention provides methods of culturing organisms and detecting the presence of toxins in the sample using the motility response of organisms in the sample.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A method of detecting the presence of a toxin in a sample, comprising
providing a chamber including a sample and an organism having a motility response to a toxin in the sample, acquiring an image showing an organism in the sample at a first instance in time, measuring based on the image at least one of a centroid, a size of the organism, a shape of the organism and an orientation of the organism, determining a path characteristic based at least on the image and a similar image from another instance in time, and detecting the presence of the toxin in the sample based at least on the path characteristic.
Specification