An inexpensive, customizable microscopy system for the automated quantification and characterization of multiple adherent cell types

Cell quantification assays are essential components of most biological and clinical labs. However, many currently available quantification assays, including flow cytometry and commercial cell counting systems, suffer from unique drawbacks that limit their overall efficacy. In order to address the shortcomings of traditional quantification assays, we have designed a robust, low-cost, automated microscopy-based cytometer that quantifies individual cells in a multiwell plate using tools readily available in most labs. Plating and subsequent quantification of various dilution series using the automated microscopy-based cytometer demonstrates the single-cell sensitivity, near-perfect R(2) accuracy, and greater than 5-log dynamic range of our system. Further, the microscopy-based cytometer is capable of obtaining absolute counts of multiple cell types in one well as part of a co-culture setup. To demonstrate this ability, we recreated an experiment that assesses the tumoricidal properties of primed macrophages on co-cultured tumor cells as a proof-of-principle test. The results of the experiment reveal that primed macrophages display enhanced cytotoxicity toward tumor cells while simultaneously losing the ability to proliferate, an example of a dynamic interplay between two cell populations that our microscopy-based cytometer is successfully able to elucidate.