Systems and methods for particle counting

A method for particle counting based on electrical signals output from sensors in a flow cytometer instrument, comprising the following steps implemented with a processor:

• generating a normalized histogram based on captured electrical signals associated with a first sensor in the flow cytometer instrument;
• obtaining a corrected histogram based on a mathematical analysis of the normalized histogram and a probability that at any instant there is at least one particle in a sensing zone of the flow cytometer instrument;
• performing a determination based on the corrected histogram and one or more histograms associated with respective one or more second sensors to obtain particle counts, wherein performing the determination includes (i) calculating a first particle count based on the corrected histogram and (ii) comparing the first particle count and one or more second particle counts based on the one or more histograms associated with the respective one or more second sensors to determine whether the first particle count is to be rejected from an averaged particle count calculation;
• and
• outputting the particle counts,
• wherein the wait-time corrected count and the coincidence corrected count are calculated based on a function of one or more of a mode signal height parameter and a mean signal height parameter of the corrected histogram.

A system comprising:

• a particle counter coupled to a processor and memory, wherein the particle counter captures electrical signals generated when a particle traverses a sensing zone and the memory contains instructions for controlling a processor to
• generate a normalized histogram based on captured electrical signals associated with a first sensor in a flow cytometer instrument;
• obtain a corrected histogram based on a mathematical analysis of the normalized histogram and a probability that at any instant there is at least one particle in the sensing zone;
• and
• perform a determination based on the corrected histogram and one or more histograms associated with respective one or more second sensors, wherein the memory contains the instructions for controlling the processor to
• compare parameters of each captured electrical signal with corresponding reference parameter ranges;
• and
• choose captured electrical signals whose parameters fall within corresponding reference parameter ranges;
• wherein the normalized histogram is based on the chosen captured electrical signals.

A system for measuring particulate counts suspended in solutions wherein the system comprises:

• means for generating a normalized histogram by selecting captured electrical signals wherein a captured electrical signal is associated with one or more sensors in a flow cytometer instrument;
• means for obtaining a corrected histogram based on a mathematical analysis of the normalized histogram and a probability that at any instant there is at least one particle in a sensing zone of the flow cytometer instrument;
• and
• means for calculating corrected particle counts based on the corrected histogram;
• wherein the means for generating the normalized histogram includes
• means for comparing parameters of each captured electrical signal with corresponding reference parameter ranges,
• means for choosing captured electrical signals whose parameters fall within corresponding reference parameter ranges,
• means for generating at least one edited histogram for each sensor using the chosen electrical signals associated with the sensor,
• means for rejecting an edited histogram associated with a sensor, if the edited histogram differs from all distinct edited histograms associated with other sensors,
• means for averaging all non-rejected edited histograms, and
• means for normalizing the averaged histogram.

An article comprising a computer-readable medium that stores instructions which when executed by a processor enable the processor to:

• generate a normalized histogram based on captured electrical signals associated with a first sensor of a plurality of sensors in a flow cytometer instrument;
• obtain a corrected histogram based on a mathematical analysis of the normalized histogram and a probability that at any instant there is at least one particle in the sensing zone;
• and
• perform a determination based on the corrected histogram and one or more histograms associated with respective one or more second sensors of the plurality of sensors;
• compare parameters of each captured electrical signal with corresponding reference parameter ranges;
• and
• choose captured electrical signals whose parameters fall within corresponding reference parameter ranges;
• wherein the normalized histogram is generated based on the chosen captured electrical signals.