Digital Pathology

Our principal scanners are two Leica-Aperio GT450 instruments, which were acquired in the summer of 2020. Technical specifications for these instruments can be found here. The GT450s are completely automated, i.e., no operator input is required beyond simply loading the slides. Scanning staff will review instrument output following a scan run, checking for any errors in the tissue detection process and for any out-of-focus images. The instruments, as their name suggests, have a capacity of 450 slides; scanning this many slides takes approximately 15 hours, or an average of 2 minutes per slide. 

The GT450 instruments, unlike the AT2 (below) cannot scan 2x3 slides, also known as "whole mounts," nor can they scan at 20x magnification - they are limited to 40x. 

GT450s 20201029.jpg

 

We also have a Leica-Aperio AT2, acquired in 2013.  Technical specifications for this instrument can be found here. The AT2 can scan either 1x3 inch or 2x3 inch microscope slides.  It has a rotating auto-feed drum which can accommodate up to 400 slides at a time.  It has a single 20x objective lens; 40x magnification is achieved through use of a 2x "doubler" optical magnification changer.  Scanning one slide at 40x (400x total magnification) typically takes 2 to 10 minutes after operator-dependent designation of the scan area, setting background subtraction, and placing local focus points. 

AT2 20201029.jpg