CONFOCAL FLUORESCENCE SLIDE SCANNER WITH PARALLEL DETECTION
First Claim
1. An instrument for scanning a large specimen supported, the instrument comprising a plurality of illumination sources, at least one lens to focus light from each illumination source on a different focus spot of the specimen simultaneously, there being a plurality of focus spots, with each illumination source being focused on a different focus spot of the plurality of focus spots, there being a plurality of spectrally resolved detectors to receive fluorescence emitted from the different focus spots simultaneously, the detectors being isolated from one another so that substantially all of the fluorescence emitted from each focus spot is received by a different detector of the plurality of detectors.
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Abstract
An instrument and method for scanning a large specimen supported on a specimen holder has a plurality of illumination sources with each illumination, source being focused on a different focus spot of the specimen simultaneously. There are a plurality of spectrally resolved detectors to receive light reflected or emitted from the different focus spots simultaneously with each spectrally resolved detector receiving light from one illumination source only.
28 Citations
23 Claims
- 1. An instrument for scanning a large specimen supported, the instrument comprising a plurality of illumination sources, at least one lens to focus light from each illumination source on a different focus spot of the specimen simultaneously, there being a plurality of focus spots, with each illumination source being focused on a different focus spot of the plurality of focus spots, there being a plurality of spectrally resolved detectors to receive fluorescence emitted from the different focus spots simultaneously, the detectors being isolated from one another so that substantially all of the fluorescence emitted from each focus spot is received by a different detector of the plurality of detectors.
- 11. A method of using an instrument for scanning a large specimen, the instrument having a plurality of illumination sources, at least one lens to focus light from each illumination source on a different focus spot of the specimen, the instrument having one detector for each focus spot of the specimen that is to be detected, there being a plurality of focus spots, the method comprising activating the instrument including the plurality of illumination sources, adjusting the at least one lens to focus the light from each illumination source onto different focus spots of the specimen, each focus spot receiving light from only one illumination source, choosing and arranging spectrally resolved detectors to receive fluorescence emitted from the different focus spots simultaneously and isolating the detectors from one another so that each detector receives light substantially from one illumination source only.
- 15. A method of using an instrument for scanning a large specimen, the instrument having a plurality of illumination sources, at least one lens to focus light from each illumination source to a different focus spot of the specimen, the instrument having one detector for each focus spot of the specimen that is to be detected, there being a plurality of focus spots, the method comprising activating the instrument including the plurality of illumination sources, adjusting the at least one lens to focus the light from each illumination source onto different focus spots of the specimen, each focus spot receiving light from only one illumination source, minimizing cross talk between the detectors by ensuring that the different focus spots on which the light, from the illumination source is focused are separated by distances of at least approximately ten spot diameters from each other, arranging the detectors to receive emitted or reflected light from the different focus spots simultaneously and isolating the detectors from one another so that each detector receives light substantially from one illumination source only.
- 16. A method of using an instrument for scanning a large specimen, the instrument having a plurality of illumination sources, at least one lens to focus light from each illumination source on a different focus spot of the specimen, the instrument having one detector for each focus spot of the specimen, that is to be detected, there being a plurality of focus spots and a plurality of detectors, the method comprising positioning the illumination sources in an XY plane such that the focus spots to be detected are along a line in the Y direction and scanning spots move across the specimen in the X direction so that the focus spots to be detected are located a distance apart, from one another to avoid any long lifetime fluorophores that are excited by a first focus spot and are detected by a second detector mixed with a fluorescence signal excited by a second illumination source, there being at least two focus spots, at least two detectors and at least two illumination sources.
Specification