Method of imaging blood cells

A system comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• memory coupled to the one or more processors, the memory encoded with a set of instructions configured to perform a process comprising:
• receiving an operating state signal from a test cartridge indicative of a type of cartridge inserted into an analyzer;
• determining that the type of cartridge is the test cartridge having a contact connected to an imager chip configured to image blood cells in a blood sample;
• driving a pump actuator to actuate a pump on the test cartridge and move the blood sample from a sample receiving chamber into a sample testing conduit, wherein the sample testing conduit comprises a first wall formed from at least a portion of the imager chip, a second wall formed from a transparent material layer, and a plurality of spacer elements disposed between the first wall and the second wall;
• driving a light emitter to project light through the sample testing conduit and the blood sample;
• recording an output signal of at least one of absorbance and fluorescence at an array of pixels of the imager chip based on the light received from the sample testing conduit and the blood sample;
• and
• converting the output signal to a number count or percentage for each type of cell in the blood sample.

A non-transitory machine readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a computing system, cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:

• driving a pump actuator to actuate a pump on a test cartridge and move a blood sample from a sample receiving chamber into a sample testing conduit, wherein the sample testing conduit comprises a first wall formed from at least a portion of an imager chip, a second wall formed from a transparent material layer, and a plurality of spacer elements disposed between the first wall and the second wall;
• driving a light emitter to project light through the sample testing conduit and the blood sample;
• recording an output signal of at least one of absorbance and fluorescence at an array of pixels of the imager chip based on the light received from the sample testing conduit and the blood sample;
• and
• converting the output signal to a number count or percentage for each type of cell in the blood sample.