System and method for tissue viability screening
A system for determining the viability of an embryo comprises an imaging device, an excitation device configured to direct an excitation energy at an embryo, a controller communicatively connected to the imaging device and the excitation device, configured to drive the excitation device and collect images from the imaging device at an imaging frequency, a processor performing steps comprising acquiring a set of images from the imaging device, performing a Fourier Transformation to generate a set of phasor coordinates, computing a D-trajectory, computing a set of values of additional parameters, comparing the set of values to a set of stored values related to embryos of known viability, and calculating a viability index factor of the embryo from the set of values and the set of stored values. Methods of calculating embryo viability and determining one or more properties of a tissue are also described.
1. A system for determining the viability of an embryo, comprising:
an imaging device;
an excitation device configured to direct an excitation energy at an embryo;
a controller communicatively connected to the imaging device and the excitation device, configured to drive the excitation device and collect images from the imaging device at an imaging frequency;
a non-transitory computer-readable medium with instructions stored thereon, that when executed by a processor perform steps comprising:
acquiring a set of images from the imaging device;
performing a Fourier Transformation on the set of images to generate a set of phasor coordinates;
computing a D-trajectory of the phasor coordinates;
computing a set of values of additional parameters from the set of images and the phasor coordinates;
comparing the set of values to a set of stored values related to embryos of known viability; and
calculating a viability index factor of the embryo from the set of values and the set of stored values.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the excitation energy is selected from the group consisting of laser light, LED light, photon laser light, photon excitation laser light, and diffuse light.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the excitation energy source is selected from the group consisting of a laser source, an LED source, and a lamp.
4. The system of claim 2 , further comprising an excitation cleaner positioned between the excitation source and the embryo, configured to prevent excessive heating of the embryo by the excitation source.
5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the excitation cleaner is selected from the group consisting of a heat blocker, a bandpass filter, a low-pass filter, a high-pass filter, a filter wheel, and beam splitter glass.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the imaging device is selected from the group consisting of a modulated CMOS camera, a modulated EMCCD, an intensified CCD, a PMT, an APD, and a SPAD.
7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the imaging device comprises a microscope.
8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the imaging device is selected from the group consisting of a scanning device, a camera, a FLIM, and a point detector.
9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the imaging device is a fluorescence lifetime imaging microscope.
10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the additional parameters are selected from the group consisting of coordinates for a center of mass g and s, second axial moments a and b after diagonalization, an angle of distribution from diagonalization, and a total number of pixels in the phasor plot from slices derived from the phasor coordinates.
11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the excitation source is a modulated excitation source having an excitation frequency in a range from 1 MHz to 200 MHz.
12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the imaging device is a CMOS imaging device having a plurality of taps, and the instructions comprise the step of acquiring multiple images from the imaging device simultaneously using the plurality of taps.
13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the imaging device comprises two taps.
14. A method of calculating an embryo viability index, comprising the steps of:
exciting an embryo with an excitation energy from an excitation source;
acquiring a set of images of the embryo from an imaging device;
performing a Fourier Transformation on the set of images to generate a set of phasor coordinates;
computing a D-trajectory of the phasor coordinates;
computing a set of values of additional parameters from the set of images and the phasor coordinates;
comparing the set of values to a set of stored values related to embryos of known viability; and
calculating a viability index factor of the embryo from the set of values and the set of stored values.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the excitation energy is generated at an energy level in a range from 25 μJ to 25 J.
16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the excitation energy is laser light having a spectral range between 390 nm and 2000 nm.
17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the parameters are selected from the group consisting of coordinates for a center of mass g and s, second axial moments a and b after diagonalization, an angle of distribution from diagonalization, and a total number of pixels in the phasor plot from slices derived from the phasor coordinates.