Patent ID: 8218834

Claim:
A method of analyzing maturity stages of a virus, comprising: providing a cell containing a plurality of viral particles of a type of virus type; taking a first image of a first viral particle and a second image of a second viral particle of the type of virus; characterizing the first viral particle as being in a first maturity stage and the second viral particle as being in a second maturity stage; transforming the first image to a first linear gray scale profile representing a radial density profile of the first viral particle going from a center of the first viral particle radially outwardly towards a periphery of the viral particle; transforming the second image to a second linear gray scale profile; saving the first gray scale profile as a first template; saving the second gray scale profile as a second template; identifying a third particle in a third image; transforming the third image into a third gray scale profile; and comparing the third gray scale profile to the first and second template to determine a maturity stage of the third particle.