Patent ID: 7842465

Claim:
A method of preparing a sample containing potential cells of interest, for use in a laser based scanning system designed to detect imaging events which contain the potential cells of interest, the method comprising: placing a first material containing the potential cells of interest on a slide; adding at least a first type of antibody configured to target the potential cells of interest and allowing binding of the first type of antibody to proceed to completion; adding a second type of antibody configured to target the first type of antibody; associating at least a first marker or tag, in a first amount, with at least one of the first type of antibody and the second type of antibody; and associating a second marker or tag, in a second amount different than the first amount, with at least one of the first type of antibody and the second type of antibody, wherein when acted upon by the laser based scanning system, the prepared sample is configured to emit signals having a spectral resolution sufficient to permit filtering to differentiate and eliminate most false positives from true positive imaging event, the filtered imaging events are then confirmed by a higher resolution detection method to determine whether they are truly the cells of interest.