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

• US 9,280,635 B2
• Filed: 10/25/2011
• Issued: 03/08/2016
• 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:
  US13/820,968
• Publication Number:
  US 20130204538A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,596 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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. A system for collecting a data set for a flow cytometer sample in a flow cytometer, comprising:

a detector array, including a plurality of detectors, that collectively detects a full spectral range of a set of input signals from the flow cytometer, wherein each detector detects a subset spectral range of the full spectral range, and wherein subset spectral ranges of the plurality of detectors overlap; 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 corresponds to a grouping of input signals from the set of input signals, wherein the input signals are detected by the detectors in the corresponding detector group.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface enables the user to configure, from the plurality of detectors, a first set of detector groups corresponding to a first set of virtual detector channels, and to configure, from the plurality of detectors, a second set of detector groups corresponding to a second set of virtual detector channels, wherein the first and second sets of detector groups are different.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the detector array collectively detects a wide range of input signals that includes at least a 1:

1,000,000 ratio between the faintest objects and the brightest objects.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the detector array is a linear array of detectors.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the linear array of detectors includes a plurality of photodiodes.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the linear array of detectors includes a plurality of phototransistors.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the subset spectral ranges of the plurality of detectors are contiguous.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the detector array detects a full spectral range of input signals of approximately 400 nm to 900 nm.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the subset spectral ranges of the plurality of detectors are of approximately equal span.

10. A method for collecting a data set for a flow cytometer sample in a flow cytometer, comprising the steps of:

providing a detector array having a plurality of detectors that collectively detect a full spectral range of a set of input signals from the flow cytometer, wherein each detector detects a subset spectral range of the full spectral range, and wherein subset spectral ranges of the plurality of detectors overlap;

creating a set of virtual detector channels by grouping detectors in the detector array, wherein each virtual detector channel corresponds to a detector group and corresponds to a grouping of input signals from the set of input signals, wherein the input signals are detected by the detectors in the corresponding detector group; and

collecting the full spectral range of input signals from the flow cytometer sample with the detector array.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein collecting input signals includes collecting a wide range of input signals that includes at least a 1:

1,000,000 ratio between the faintest objects and the brightest objects.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein creating a set of virtual detector channels includes receiving a user selection of detector groups.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein creating a set of virtual detector channels includes receiving a user selection of virtual detector channel ranges and grouping detectors into detector groups that correspond to the selection of virtual detector channel ranges.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein creating a set of virtual detector channels includes receiving at least one configuration parameter and optimally grouping detectors based on the at least one configuration parameter.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein optimally grouping detectors based on the configuration parameter includes at least one of:

minimizing spillover between virtual detector channels and maximizing sensitivity of the virtual detector channels.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein creating a set of virtual detector channels includes receiving a user selection of a set of fluorochromes and assigning a virtual detector channel for each of the selected fluorochromes.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein creating a set of virtual detector channels includes receiving a configuration file specifying virtual detector channel settings.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein creating a set of virtual detector channels is performed before collecting input signals.

19. The method of claim 10, wherein creating a set of virtual detector channels may be performed after collecting input signals.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising storing the collected input signals.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein storing the collected input signals includes storing the input signals as that individually collected by each separate detector in the detector array.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein storing the collected input signals includes storing the input signals as that collected by each separate virtual detector channel.

23. The method of claim 10, further comprising allowing a user to configure, from the plurality of detectors, a first set of detector group corresponding to a first set of virtual detector channels, and to configure, from the plurality of detectors, a second set of detector groups corresponding to a second set of virtual detector channels, wherein the first and second sets of detector groups are different.

24. A system for collecting a data set for a flow cytometer sample in a flow cytometer, comprising:

a detector array, including a plurality of detectors, that collectively detects a full spectral range of a set of input signals from the flow cytometer, wherein each detector detects a subset spectral range of the full spectral range, and wherein subset spectral ranges of the plurality of detectors overlap; and

a user interface that enables a user to submit a configuration parameter and create a set of virtual detector channels by grouping detectors in the detector array into a set of detector groups based on the configuration parameter, such that the set of virtual detector channels corresponds to the set of detector groups in a one-to-one manner,

wherein a virtual detector channel of the set of virtual detector channels comprises an aggregation of a subset of input signals from the set of input signals, wherein the subset of input signals is detected by detectors in a detector group corresponding to the virtual detector channel.