Patent Document ID: 7660454
Application ID: 11685736
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A process within an epi-fluorescence system for identifying and enumerating fluorescent in situ hybridization (“FISH”) signals produced with respect to nuclear components hybridized in situ with fluorescent markers comprising; acquiring using an epi-fluorescence microscope a plurality of images at different focal planes in each fluorescence channel corresponding to the hybridized FISH markers; selecting a best focused image from said plurality of images for each nucleus; selecting for each nucleus the one focal plane above and the one focal plane below the focal plane of said best focused image in which the image is best focused; combining said images from the one focal plane above and below said best focused image with said best focused image of each said nucleus to produce a combined image for said nucleus; analyzing the combined image of each nucleus to separate background pixels from signal pixels, and to determine areas of produced signals corresponding to pre-set size and shape criteria corresponding to a non-artifactual target; and, outputting results of said analyzing step on a display.