Patent ID: 7697576

Claim:
A method of assessing the disease state of a mammalian cell, the method comprising: irradiating the cell using wide-field illumination with substantially monochromatic light having a wavelength not greater than 695 nanometers; assessing a visible light microscopic image of said cell to determine a morphology and a cell type of said cell; assessing Raman scattered light produced by said cell at a Raman shift (RS) value characteristic of said cell type, wherein said RS value is selected from the group consisting of RS values in the range from 280 to 1800 cm −1 and RS values in the range from 2750 to 3200 cm −1 , wherein said Raman scattered light is collected using the same objective used to illuminate the cell; and comparing the intensity of the Raman scattered light produced by the cell with a reference value corresponding to the intensity of Raman scattered light produced by a reference cell of the same type, whereby the morphology of said cell in combination with a difference between the intensity of the Raman scattered light produced by the cell and the reference value are indicative of the disease state of the cell.