Method and apparatus for selectively targeting specific cells within a mixed cell population
First Claim
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1. An apparatus for selectively inducing a response in one or more targeted cells within a biological specimen, comprising:
- a lens that defines a field of view that comprises a plurality of frames of cells within said biological specimen;
an illumination source for illuminating a frame of cells within said field of view;
an image capture system that captures an image of said frame of cells;
first commands for determining the locations of said one or more targeted cells within said image;
an energy source that emits an energy beam sufficient to induce a response in at least one of said one or more targeted cells within said frame of cells; and
second commands for steering said energy beam to said locations of said one or more targeted cells.
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Abstract
This invention provides a method and apparatus for selectively identifying, and targeting with an energy beam, specific cells within a mixed cell population, for the purpose of inducing a response in the targeted cells. Using the present invention, every detectable cell in a population can be identified and affected, without substantially affecting non-targeted cells within the mixture.
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Citations
94 Claims
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1. An apparatus for selectively inducing a response in one or more targeted cells within a biological specimen, comprising:
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a lens that defines a field of view that comprises a plurality of frames of cells within said biological specimen;
an illumination source for illuminating a frame of cells within said field of view;
an image capture system that captures an image of said frame of cells;
first commands for determining the locations of said one or more targeted cells within said image;
an energy source that emits an energy beam sufficient to induce a response in at least one of said one or more targeted cells within said frame of cells; and
second commands for steering said energy beam to said locations of said one or more targeted cells. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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53. An apparatus for selectively inducing a response in one or more targeted cells within a biological specimen, comprising:
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a scanning lens which focuses on a field-of-view within said biological specimen, said field-of-view comprising a plurality of frames of cells;
an illumination source that illuminates one or more frames of cells;
an image capture system that captures an image of a first frame of cells in said field-of-view;
first commands for determining the locations of said one or more targeted cells in said first frame of cells;
an energy source that emits an energy beam sufficient to induce a response in at least one of said one or more targeted cells; and
second commands for steering said energy beam to said locations of said one or more targeted cells within said first frame of cells. - View Dependent Claims (54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61)
means for directing the output of said illumination source to a second frame of cells in said field-of-view;
means for capturing an image of said second frame of cells;
third commands for determining the locations of said one or more targeted cells in said second frame of cells; and
fourth commands for steering said energy beam to said locations of said one or more targeted cells within said second frame of cells.
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55. The apparatus of claim 53, further comprising means for moving the position of said biological specimen with respect to said scanning lens.
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56. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein said scanning lens is of F-theta design with a diameter of at least 8 mm.
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57. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein said scanning lens is of F-theta design with a diameter of at least 18 mm.
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58. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein said scanning lens is of F-theta design with a diameter of at least 10 mm.
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59. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein said scanning lens is of F-theta design with a diameter of at least 12 mm.
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60. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein said scanning lens is of F-theta design with a diameter of at least 14 mm.
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61. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein said scanning lens is of F-theta design with a diameter of at least 16 mm.
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62. An apparatus for identifying a first population of cells having a label within a mixture comprising said first population and a second population of cells lacking said label, comprising:
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a lens that defines a field of view that comprises a plurality of frames of cells within said mixture;
an illumination source for illuminating a frame of cells in said field of view;
an image capture system that captures an image of said frame of cells; and
first commands for determining the locations of at least one cell in said first population of cells having said label by reference to said image. - View Dependent Claims (63, 64, 65)
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66. An apparatus for determining a morphological or physiological characteristic of individual cells in a biological specimen, comprising:
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a lens that defines a field of view that comprises a plurality of frames of cells within said biological specimen;
an illumination source for illuminating a frame of cells within said field of view;
an image capture system that captures an image of said frame of cells;
first commands for determining the location of a first targeted cell in said biological specimen by reference to said image;
second commands for intercepting said first targeted cell with an energy beam sufficient to interrogate said first targeted cell for the presence of a morphological or physiological characteristic; and
a detector for measuring the response of said first targeted cell to said interrogation. - View Dependent Claims (67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78)
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79. An apparatus for selectively inducing a response in one or more targeted cells within a biological specimen, comprising:
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an illumination source for illuminating a frame of cells in said biological specimen;
an image capture system that captures an image of said frame of cells;
first commands for determining the locations of said one or more targeted cells within said image;
an energy source that emits an energy beam sufficient to induce a response in at least one of said one or more targeted cells within said frame of cells; and
a sensor that detects the amount of energy emitted by said energy source.
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80. A method for selectively inducing a response in one or more targeted cells within a biological specimen, comprising:
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defining a field of view of view that comprises a plurality of frames of cells in said biological specimen;
illuminating a frame of cells within said field of view;
capturing an image of said frame of cells;
determining the locations of said one or more targeted cells within said image; and
steering an energy beam to the locations of said one or more targeted cells, wherein said energy beam is sufficient to induce a response in at least one of said one or more targeted cells. - View Dependent Claims (81, 82, 83, 84)
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85. A method for rapidly inducing a response in cells within a cell population, said cell population being held in a container, comprising:
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defining a first field of cells that comprises a plurality of frames of cells in said biological specimen;
illuminating said first field of cells in said cell population;
capturing an image of a first fame of cells within said first field of cells;
determining the locations of first targeted cells within said first frame of cells by reference to said image; and
steering an energy beam to the locations of said first targeted cells, wherein said energy beam is sufficient to induce a response in at least one of said first targeted cells. - View Dependent Claims (86, 87, 88)
capturing an image of a second frame of cells within said first field of cells;
determining the locations of second targeted cells within said second frame of cells by reference to said image; and
steering an energy beam to the locations of said second targeted cells within said second frame of cells, wherein said energy beam is sufficient to induce a response in at least one of said second targeted cells.
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87. The method of claim 86, further comprising:
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illuminating a second field of cells in said cell population;
capturing an image of a first frame of cells within said second field of cells;
determining the locations of first targeted cells within said first frame of cells by reference to said image; and
steering an energy beam to the locations of said first targeted cells, wherein said energy beam is sufficient to induce a response in at least one of said first targeted cells.
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88. The method of claim 87, wherein illuminating said second field of cells comprises moving said container.
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89. A method for selectively inducing a response in one or more targeted cells within a biological specimen, comprising:
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focusing a scanning lens on a field-of-view within said biological specimen, said field-of-view comprising a plurality of frames of cells;
illuminating one or more frames of cells within said field-of-view;
capturing an image of a first frame of cells in said field-of-view;
determining the locations of said one or more targeted cells in said first frame of cells;
emitting an energy beam sufficient to induce a response in at least one of said one or more targeted cells; and
steering said energy beam to the locations of said one or more targeted cells within said first frame of cells. - View Dependent Claims (90, 91, 92)
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93. A method for inducing a response in one or more targeted cells within a cell population, comprising:
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illuminating cells in said cell population;
capturing an image of the illuminated cells;
determining the locations of said one or more targeted cells within said image;
emitting an energy beam sufficient to induce a response in at least one of said one or more targeted cells; and
measuring the amount of energy contained in said energy beam; and
steering said energy beam to the locations of said one or more targeted cells. - View Dependent Claims (94)
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Specification