Flow Cytometer With Multiple Intensity Peak Design

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019391067-A1
Application number	US-201716467038-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 21, 2017
Priority date	Dec 22, 2016
Publication date	Dec 26, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

A sensing system comprises at least one fluidic channel ( 104 ) for providing at least one analyte ( 105 ) into at least one region of interest; at least one radiation transport system ( 501 ), for providing excitation radiation ( 103 ) for exciting analytes traversing the at least one region of interest; and a radiation collection system ( 301 ) for collecting any radiation signal emitted from the at least one region of interest. The at least one radiation transport system is adapted for providing excitation radiation comprising a plurality of excitation radiation intensity peaks ( 101, 102 ), whereby the distance between the excitation radiation intensity peaks is known. The sensing system comprises means ( 302, 303 ) for measurement of the speed of the at least one analyte within the fluidic channel ( 104 ), the means for measurement of speed comprising timing means ( 303 ) for obtaining the time between maxima in radiation signals emitted by the at least one analyte.

First claim

1 . A sensing system comprising
At least one fluidic channel for providing at least one analyte into at least one region of interest; at least one radiation transport system, for providing visible, IR, or UV, excitation radiation for exciting analytes traversing the at least one region of interest, so that the analytes emit or scatter a radiation signal upon receiving such excitation radiation; and a radiation collection system for collecting radiation signals emitted from the at least one region of interest, wherein the at least one radiation transport system is adapted to provide excitation radiation comprising a plurality of excitation radiation intensity peaks; and means for measurement of the speed of the at least one analyte within the fluidic channel, based on the collected radiation signals emitted from the at least one region of interest, the means for measurement of speed comprising timing means for obtaining the time between maxima in radiation signals emitted by the at least one analyte, wherein the plurality of excitation radiation intensity peaks extends through the width of the fluidic channel, the distance between the excitation radiation intensity peaks being known and being between half of the average diameter of the analyte and twice the average diameter of the analyte, so that the at least one analyte, when traversing the at least one region of interest, emits a radiation signal comprising a maximum in its intensity upon crossing each of the plurality of excitation radiation intensity peaks.

2 . The sensing system according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one radiation transport system comprises a waveguide, a plurality of split waveguide branches, and a beam splitter between the waveguide and the split waveguide branches for splitting excitation radiation provided by the waveguide and directing it into the plurality of split waveguide branches.

3 . The sensing system according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one radiation transport system comprises a grating with a masking layer for separating intensity of the excitation radiation into two peaks, wherein the grating is long as compared to the width of the channel.

4 . The sensing system according to claim 1 , comprising a plurality of regions of interest and a plurality of radiation transport systems for providing radiation of different wavelengths to each of the regions of interest.

5 . The sensing system according to claim 4 , wherein each of the plurality of radiation transport systems is adapted for measurement of the speed of the at least one analyte within the fluidic channel.

6 . The sensing system according to claim 4 , wherein the plurality of regions of interest and the plurality of radiation transport systems are arranged along a plurality of fluidic channels.

7 . The sensing system according to claim 1 , wherein the radiation signal collection system comprises an integrated photoelectric system.

8 . The sensing system according to claim 1 , wherein the fluidic channel, the radiation collection system and the at least one radiation transport system are integrated in a single sensing unit.

9 . The sensing system according to claim 1 , further comprising spectroscopic analysis means for analyzing the radiation collected from the at least one region of interest.

10 . The sensing system according to claim 1 , further comprising a radiation source for emitting excitation radiation adapted for generating fluorescence emissions in analytes traversing the at least one region of interest, the radiation collection system being adapted for collecting fluorescence emissions from the analytes.

11 . The sensing system according to claim 1 , further comprising a process module for identifying an analyte taking into account the measured speed.

12 . A cell sorting apparatus comprising a sensing system according to claim 11 , further comprising sorting means for sorting analytes depending on their identification.

13 . A cytometry apparatus comprising a sensing system according to claim 1 , further comprising control means for generating a control signal at a time when the at least one analyte is estimated to pass a particular location in the sensing system for triggering an action on the analyte or for triggering pulsed analysis, wherein generating the control signal is based on the measured speed of the at least one analyte.

14 . The cytometry apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the at least one radiation transport system comprises a waveguide, a plurality of split waveguide branches, and a beam splitter between the waveguide and the split waveguide branches for splitting excitation radiation provided by the waveguide and directing it into the plurality of split waveguide branches.

15 . The cytometry apparatus of claim 13 , comprising a plurality of regions of interest and a plurality of radiation transport systems for providing radiation of different wavelengths to each of the regions of interest.

16 . The cytometry apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the at least one radiation transport system comprises a grating with a masking layer for separating intensity of the excitation radiation into two peaks, wherein the grating is long as compared to the width of the channel.

17 . The cytometry apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the radiation signal collection system comprises an integrated photoelectric system.

18 . The cytometry apparatus of claim 13 , further comprising spectroscopic analysis means for analyzing the radiation collected from the at least one region of interest.

19 . The cytometry apparatus of claim 13 , further comprising a radiation source for emitting excitation radiation adapted for generating fluorescence emissions in analytes traversing the at least one region of interest, the radiation collection system being adapted for collecting fluorescence emissions from the analytes.

20 . The cytometry apparatus of claim 13 , further comprising a process module for identifying an analyte taking into account the measured speed.

Assignees

• Imec Vzw

Inventors

• Vercruysse Dries
• Peumans Peter

Classifications

• G01N15/1459 Primary

  the analysis being performed on a sample stream · CPC title

• G01N15/147

  the analysis being performed on a sample stream · CPC title

• G01N2015/1006

  for cytology · CPC title

• G01N2015/1075

  Physics · mapped topic

• G01J2003/1208

  Prism and grating · CPC title