Patent ID: 7326938
Filing Date: 2008-02-05
Classification: G01N

Abstract:
1. A system for imaging a fluorescently labeled sample, the system comprising a capsule, which is a closable structure made of a material isolating the inside of the capsule from its surrounding environment, and which has a support stage for receiving the sample and carrying it thereinside during the imaging; and an optical device at least partly accommodated inside the capsule and operable to illuminate the sample with incident radiation to excite a fluorescent response of the sample, detect the fluorescent response, and generate data indicative thereof; wherein said optical device comprises a light source system, an image formation system, and light directing/collecting optics having an objective lens arrangement and defining illumination and detection channels of light propagation; wherein the image formation system comprises a detector arrangement; wherein said detector arrangement has at least two different detectors; wherein the detector arrangement comprises the first detector operable to perform a relatively fast scan of the sample to real-time identify at least one pre-defined region of interest in the sample and to process the fluorescent response to thereby produce data indicative of coordinates of the region of interest, and the second detector operable to provide data indicative of an image of a fluorescent labels containing sub-area of the region of interest with an image quality enabling data analysis and image acquisition.