Patent ID: 6671393
Filing Date: 2003-12-30
Classification: G01N,G02B,G06K,G06T

Abstract:
An automated method for the measurement of residual protein in a cellular specimen, comprising:(a) providing a plurality of stained subsamples from a cellular specimen; (b) automatically selecting a Z position in each subsample for imaging a candidate object of interest; (c) automatically obtaining a low magnification image of the candidate objects of interest comprising obtaining a plurality of pixels in each subsample; (d) automatically filtering the candidate object of interest pixels in each subsample with a low pass filter; (e) automatically morphologically processing the candidate object of interest pixels in each subsample to identify artifact pixels; (f) automatically identifying the candidate object of interest in each subsample by eliminating pixels identified as artifact pixels; (g) adjusting the apparatus to a higher magnification; (h) automatically acquiring a higher magnification image of the subsample, at the location coordinates corresponding to the low magnification image, for each candidate object of interest identified in (f); (i) automatically transforming pixels of the higher magnification image in a first color space to a second color space to differentiate higher magnification candidate object of interest pixels from background pixels; (j) automatically identifying, at high magnification, an object of interest from the candidate object of interest pixels in the second color space; and (k) determining a protein level in the subsamples, wherein the protein level is indicative of the residual component of a cellular protein.