Patent ID: 7528384

Claim:
A device for analyzing particles in a sample; said device comprising: an at least partially transparent container for holding said sample containing said particles; an optical source for generating excitation light that is provided to said sample, thereby causing at least a portion of said particles to generate fluorescence; a means for collecting fluorescence from an observation volume positioned within said container; a means for moving said container, thereby transporting at least a portion of said particles through said observation volume; a photodetector in optical communication with said means for collecting fluorescence for receiving and measuring intensities of at least a portion of said fluorescence from said observation volume; thereby generating a temporal profile of said fluorescence; and a processor having a pattern recognition algorithm for receiving and analyzing said temporal profile generated by said photodetector, wherein said observation volume is positioned a distance from a wall of said container selected from the range of about 100 microns to about 2000 microns.