Systems and methods for determining a complete blood count and a white blood cell differential count

A system for analyzing cells from a blood sample, comprising:

• a. an applicator tip for dispensing a fluid comprising cells from a blood sample onto a transparent substrate;
• wherein the tip is arranged above the transparent substrate;
• b. a light emitting diode (LED) light source arranged to emit light through the transparent substrate and through cells deposited on the transparent substrate, wherein the LED light source comprises two or more separate LEDs, each LED emitting a different wavelength range;
• c. a light receiving device arranged to capture one or more magnified black and white images of the cells on the transparent substrate;
• d. a display comprising a graphical user interface (“GUI”) arranged to display images of blood cells;
• e. a computer containing a microprocessor;
• and
• f. software instructions stored on a storage device for controlling the system, wherein when the microprocessor executes the software instructions the computer causes the system to:
• i. fill the applicator tip with a volume of the fluid;
• ii. position the applicator tip less than 70 microns above the transparent substrate;
• iii. dispense a known volume of fluid out of the applicator tip and while ejection of the fluid onto the transparent substrate is occurring, maintaining relative movement between the tip and the transparent substrate at a controlled speed to lay down the entire known volume of fluid in two or more rows over a defined area of the transparent substrate;
• and wherein the applicator tip height above the transparent substrate, a flow rate of the fluid out of the applicator tip, and the speed of the relative movement are controlled such that cells in the fluid settle onto the transparent substrate in a plurality of rows that are about one cell thick, and such that morphology of the cells is sufficiently preserved to enable image-based cell analysis;
• iv. control the LED light source to emit light through the transparent substrate and through the cells on the transparent substrate at two or more different wavelength ranges;
• v. activate the light receiving device to capture a magnified black and white image of one or more cells on the transparent substrate at each of the LED light source wavelength ranges;
• vi. generate a combined image of one or more cells on the transparent substrate by combining each of the black and white images;
• vii. automatically analyze red blood cells (RBCs) and white blood cells (WBCs) in the combined image and determine a RBC count per microliter of the blood sample, a complete blood count (CBC), and a WBC differential for the blood sample including a count of each type of WBC per microliter of the blood sample;
• and
• viii. display the combined image and the results of the RBC count, CBC, the WBC differential, and the count of each type of WBC in the GUI of the display, wherein the GUI is configured to allow an operator to interact with the combined image and to sign off on the RBC count, the CBC, and the WBC differential.