Patent ID: 8603747

Claim:
An automated method for detecting chromosomal abnormalities in a plurality of cervical cells, said method consisting of: contacting said sample comprising cervical cells with a plurality of distinguishably labeled probes capable of hybridizing to a portion of a chromosomal region of said cervical cells; hybridizing a target nucleic acid region on 5p 15 of chromosome 5p in said cervical cells with a first said labeled nucleic acid probe to form a first hybridization complex; hybridizing a target nucleic acid region on 3q26 of chromosome 3q in said cervical cells with a second said labeled nucleic acid probe to form a second hybridization complex; hybridizing a target nucleic acid region on centromere of chromosome 7 (CEN7) with a third said labeled nucleic acid probe to form a third hybridization complex; scanning said sample to detect a first, second and third signals indicative of the formation of the first, second and third hybridization complexes; generate an image of the scanned sample comprising the first, second and third signals indicative of the formation of the first, second and third hybridization complexes; analyzing said image to generate signal patterns; identifying the signal patterns indicative of the chromosomal abnormalities in the cervical cells; and counting the cervical cells comprising the signal pattern indicative of the chromosomal abnormalities.