Epi-fluorescence array microscope

描述（由申请人提供）：DMetrix正在开发一系列创新的阵列显微镜载玻片扫描仪器，以生成虚拟载玻片。我们的核心技术是一组微型物镜，每个物镜直径小于2毫米，长度小于7毫米，在阵列中稍微交错，以产生一个单一的，无缝的显微镜载玻片扫描。阵列显微镜的概念依赖于成像并行，以显著减少所需的时间，以获得数字，高分辨率的显微镜载玻片图像。我们在这里提出了一种阵列显微镜概念的外显荧光配置。所提出的外延荧光阵列显微镜系统将包括100个微型显微镜物镜，由DMetrix设计和优化，用于荧光成像。这种阵列显微镜将基于一种新颖的“多对一”光学配置，可以同时有效地照亮100个微型物镜的视场。长期目标是创造一种高通量、高度自动化的荧光显微镜。阵列显微镜虚拟载玻片扫描仪将允许数字化荧光标记标本的速度至少比传统的单光轴光学系统快10倍。这种外显荧光虚拟切片扫描仪的应用将在分子病理学、药物研究、病例存档和心灵病理学中被发现。所提出的仪器的高扫描速度将实现以片/天为单位的高通量测量，或在几分钟内获得多层（“z- stack”）和/或多光谱图像集。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): DMetrix is developing a line of innovative array-microscope slide scanner instruments to generate virtual slides. Our core technology is an array of miniature objectives, each measuring less than 2 mm in diameter and 7 mm in length, slightly staggered in the array, to produce a single, seamless sweep of a microscope slide. The array microscope concept relies on imaging in parallel in order to significantly reduce the time necessary to acquire digital, high-resolution microscope-slide images. We propose here to develop an epi-fluorescence configuration of the array-microscope concept. The proposed epi-fluorescence array-microscope system will include 100 miniature microscope objectives designed and optimized for fluorescence imaging by DMetrix. This array microscope will be based on a novel "many-to-one" optics configuration that allows efficient and simultaneous illumination of the 100 miniature objectives' fields of view. The long-term goal is to create a high-throughput, highly automated fluorescence microscope. The array-microscope virtual-slide scanner will allow digitization of fluorescently labeled specimens at rates at least 10 times faster than conventional single-optical-axis optical systems. Applications of such an epi-fluorescence virtual slide scanner are to be found in molecular pathology, pharmaceutical research, case archiving, and telepathology. The high scanning speed of the proposed instrument will enable either a high throughput measured in slides/day or the acquisition of multi-layer ("z- stack") and/or multi-spectral image sets in minutes per slide.