Patent ID: 8883491

Claim:
A method for determining a concentration of cells that express a biomarker in a population of cells in a liquid sample comprising: contacting a liquid sample comprising cells that express a biomarker with a fluorescently labeled agent that specifically binds the biomarker; loading the liquid sample into a covered sample chamber having a known height and configured to hold a known volume of the liquid sample, containing a static population of cells wherein the population of cells is suspended within the sample chamber; acquiring a single static bright-field image of the population of cells in the known volume of the liquid sample in the sample chamber; acquiring a single static fluorescent image of the population of cells with the fluorescently labeled agent bound thereto in the known volume of the liquid sample in the sample chamber; and analyzing the single static bright-field image and the single static fluorescent image in relation to the known volume of the liquid sample to determine the concentration of cells that express the biomarker in the population of cells.