The karyotyping system Ikaros handles also chromosomes from plants and animals, and has an integrated karyogram form editor.
The rodent erythrocyte micronucleus assay can be completely automated with Metafer MetaCyte. Imaging automation of this test is OECD compliant.
The Comet assay can be either automatically analyzed with CometScan, or interactively with CometImager.
With VSlide virtual slides of highest quality are prepared - automatically, flexible, and easy.
MetaCyte automatically detects sperm cells in forensic samples. Position data, an image, and reliablity values are stored for further inspection.
Pathology and Virtual Slides
Virtual Slide Imaging
(MetaferVSlide)
VSlide is the virtual slide scanner from MetaSystems. Based on the renowned slide scanning platform, VSlide combines all the advantages of a motorized microscope with a modern, high-quality imaging automation. Therefore VSlide is not restricted to predefined magnifications or contrasting modes. Also Z-stacks are automatically acquired, providing the possibility to virtually 'focus' through the digitized sample. Each system comes with a set of dedicated software packages to display, annotate, and analyze the virtual slide on screen. Imaging with VSlide is very easy. The system automatically reads bar code labels, and subsequently pre-scans the slide with a low power objective lens. VSlide then scans the detected area at high magnification. A virtual slide image is generated automatically in the background, even with a combination of different contrasting methods in one file. Simultaneously a low resolution thumbnail image is created. Immediately after the scan the high-resolution virtual slide image is available for inspection with MetaViewer, even on remote workstations. Image stitching can anytime be repeated using the offline mode, e.g. to create another image with different color channel settings.
Special Functions
(Z-Stacks, Pre-Scans, and Workflow Automation)
VSlide supports Z-stack image acquisition which allows creating on-screen focusable virtual slides. Extended focus image can be generated from Z-stack during scanning. Image channels representing different contrasting techniques can be captured during a scan (eg. Brightfield combined with fluorescence).
Low magnification pre-scans can be used to detect relevant regions on the slide, e.g. to detect tissue using a low magnification lens before doing a 20x fluorescence scan. Intelligent tissue mapping avoids scanning of empty regions („holes“) within tissue.
Computer controlled RGB-LED illumination provides a homogenous field, control of color/white balance, and instantaneous color switching. An unlimited number of VSlide parameter sets can be stored and used to automate the scanning workflow. Information on the slide, the preferred scanning parameters, and the output format can be coded into a bar code. Alternatively a processing file, created e.g. by an external database, can control the workflow. Different scans can be easily linked and performed subsequently without interaction. This feature can be used e.g. for pre-scans followed by a high magnification analysis scan or, to start conditional scans based on analysis results.
Once a virtual slide is created, it keeps all the spatial information of the originally acquired image tiles. This allows for precise relocation of any part of the image under the microscope, or even for subsequent acquisition of selected regions using different parameters.