Automated specimen deposition systems and associated methods

Abstract

Systems and methods that enable automated spray deposition of biological specimens carried on microscope slides are described herein. Aspects of the technology are directed, for example, to automated specimen deposition systems and methods of generating high-quality, reproducible specimen-bearing microscope slides in automated processing systems.

I/We claim: 
     
         1 . A specimen deposition system for depositing biological material onto one or more substrates, comprising:
 a substrate processing area for receiving and holding one or more substrates;   a spray cartridge configured to orient and direct a spray of biological material from a specimen container towards a surface of a substrate; and   a positioning assembly comprising one or more alignment assemblies configured to align the spray cartridge with respect to the surface of the substrate.   
     
     
         2 . The specimen deposition system of  claim 1  wherein the positioning assembly is further configured to: manipulate and deliver specimen containers to the substrate processing area; position the specimen container within a spray cartridge and/or agitate the specimen container prior to positioning the specimen container within the spray cartridge. 
     
     
         3 . The specimen deposition system of  claim 1  wherein the spray cartridge further includes a mounting mechanism configured to receive and hold the specimen container containing biological material in a transport solution. 
     
     
         4 . The specimen deposition system of  claim 4  wherein the specimen container comprises biological material stored in a transport solution. 
     
     
         5 . The specimen deposition system of  claim 5  wherein the transport solution comprises about 10% to about 95% ethanol. 
     
     
         6 . The specimen deposition system of  claim 1  wherein the substrate processing area comprises a moving platform for moving substrates within the substrate processing area. 
     
     
         7 . The specimen deposition system of  claim 1  wherein the substrate processing area comprises and a substrate loading station held by the platform and configured to carry the one or more substrates. 
     
     
         8 . The specimen deposition system of  claim 1  wherein individual substrates are housed in a substrate cartridge and the substrate cartridge includes a spray retainer for containing the spray of biological material during a spray deposition process. 
     
     
         9 . The specimen deposition system of  claim 8  wherein the spray retainer includes an upper opening for receiving a spray nozzle of the spray cartridge. 
     
     
         10 . The specimen deposition system of  claim 8  wherein the spray retainer has a rectangular prismatic, cylindrical, or frusto-conical shape. 
     
     
         11 . The specimen deposition system of  claim 1  wherein the positioning assembly is configured to move the specimen containers relative to the substrate processing area so as to sequentially stage one of the specimen containers containing biological material for delivery to an empty spray cartridge. 
     
     
         12 . The specimen deposition system of  claim 1 , wherein the spray cartridge includes—
 a fitting for attaching the specimen container; 
 a spray nozzle for directing the spray of biological material from the specimen container; and 
 a fluid-port in a head of the spray cartridge, the fluid-port configured to couple the spray nozzle with liquid in the specimen container. 
 
     
     
         13 . The specimen deposition system of  claim 12  wherein the head of the spray cartridge comprises an air port, the air port configured to deliver compressed air to the spray nozzle. 
     
     
         14 . The specimen processing system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a controller communicatively coupled to the positioning assembly, the controller being programmed to command the one or more alignment assemblies to: move a first specimen container that is positioned outside of the substrate processing area to the substrate processing area; insert the first specimen container into a first spray cartridge; and align the first spray cartridge to the surface of the substrate.   
     
     
         15 . A method of depositing biological specimens on substrates, comprising:
 delivering a plurality of containers holding biological specimens to a carrier assembly within an automated specimen deposition system;   moving the carrier assembly towards a positioning assembly of the deposition system;   sequentially moving individual containers of the plurality of containers from the carrier assembly to the positioning assembly;   moving the positioning assembly from a receive container configuration to an align container configuration to move the individual containers at the positioning assembly to an aligned position above a substrate processing area;   transporting individual substrates to the substrate processing area; and   spraying the biological specimen onto an upper surface of an individual substrate to generate a specimen-bearing substrate.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising positioning the individual containers within individual spray cartridges having spray nozzles, and wherein spraying the biological specimen onto the upper surface of the individual substrate includes spraying the biological specimen from the spray nozzle of the spray cartridge. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15  wherein moving the carrier includes rotating the carrier assembly to sequentially move the containers to the positioning assembly. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15  wherein transporting individual substrates to the substrate processing area comprises pushing the substrates slides along and onto a substrate loading zone in the substrate processing area or carrying the substrates from a substrate staging device to the substrate processing area. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 15  wherein moving the positioning assembly from a receive container configuration to an align container configuration comprises depositing a container in a spray cartridge. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the substrate is a microscope slide and the specimen-bearing substrate is suitable for partial wave spectrometry analysis. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the biological specimen is suspended in transport solution within at least one of the plurality of individual containers. 
     
     
         22 . An automated specimen deposition system for depositing a biological specimen onto one or more substrates, comprising:
 a positioning assembly configured to align a specimen-containing spray cartridge with respect to a surface of a substrate;   a substrate loading station for sequentially receiving and carrying substrates;   a controller communicatively coupled to the positioning assembly, the controller being programmed to:
 (a) command the positioning assembly to position and align the spray cartridge above the substrate loading station; and 
 (b) command a compressed air source to direct compressed air into the spray cartridge in a manner that sprays the specimen from a nozzle on the spray cartridge towards a substrate carried by the substrate loading station; and 
   a database communicatively coupled to the controller, wherein the database stores executable instructions to the controller for one or more of specimen intake, spray deposition, specimen switching, substrate indexing and specimen-bearing substrate processing.   
     
     
         23 . The automated specimen deposition system of  claim 22  wherein the substrate is a microscope slide and the substrate is held within a substrate cartridge having a spray retainer configured to prohibit overspray of the specimen into an internal environment of the system. 
     
     
         24 . The automated specimen deposition system of  claim 22  wherein the controller comprises a programmable processor for executing one or more spray deposition programs, and wherein the one or more spray deposition programs are selected at least in part based upon one or more of: cell type, cell concentration, and transport solution characteristics.