Scientific Partnership

Tomography System to Acquire 3D Images of Cells in Laminar Flow: Hardware Architecture U. Martinelli1), P. Daponte2), G.F Abate1), F Bavaro1), M. Napolitano3), F. Mauro3), D. Grimaldi4), G. Guglielmelli4), S. Rapuano2), P. Scerbo1), G. Castello3) 1) S.Te.Bi Srl; viale delle Acacie 44, 81031 Aversa (CE), e-mail: stebi@cytoimager-stebi.com 2) Faculty of Eng., Univ. of Sannio, Corso Garibaldi 107, 82100 Benevento, e-mail: {daponte, rapuano}@unisannio.it 3) Immunology Dept., Natl. Cancer Institute, "G. Pascale Foundation", Naples, e-mail: castgpp@tin. it 4)DEIS, University of Calabria, 87036 Rende (CS), e-mail: grimaldi@deis.unical.it

Abstract - The measurement of the frequency of micronuclei induced in cells by genotoxic agent exposure is widely used for analysis of cytogenetic damage. Nevertheless, the conventional microscopically analysis not provides enough sensitivity, and the manual microscopic scoring of micronuclei is a tedious and time-consuming procedure. Therefore the design is demanded of a new flow-cytometry measurement device by introducing hardware and software innovations. The paper deals with the research project aimed to produce a tomography system able to acquire 3D images of cells in laminar flow. This research was supported by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) under the project FIRB 2001 RBAUOIZMZ5. In particular, the paper focuses on the hardware innovations regarding (i) the pulses acquisition system, (ii) the optoelectronic single cell triggering system, and (iii) the cells flow chamber. The software innovations are described in the successive paper. Keywords - Flow Cytometer, Micronucleus, Laminar Flow.