SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IDENTIFYING AND ISOLATING RARE CELLS FROM A MIXED POPULATION OF CELLS

摘要

This invention discloses a method for isolating trophoblasts from a sample of maternal blood including a mixed population of cells, the method includes the steps of: (a) providing a magnified image of at least a portion of the sample of maternal blood, (b) utilizing an image processor for automatically or semi-automatically morphologically differentiating the trophoblasts from the mixed population of cells in the magnified image of the maternal blood to identify the trophoblasts from the population of cells and (c) retrieving the identified trophoblasts using a micromanipulator.