We encounter bioparticles in all areas of our biosphere. They are basic building blocks of life and relevant for nutrition, health, biotechnology and quality of life. Therefore, there is an increasing demand for new, high-throughput methods for the detailed analysis and evaluation of particle populations. The concept of a tomographic 3D-imaging flow cytometry (tIFC) developed at Leibniz-IPHT addresses this challenge and provides high-resolution three-dimensional particle images which are subsequently used for precise particle identification by means of neural networks. The object of the proposed project is the development of an intuitively operable overall system for rapid pollen analysis for this measurement method as a compact small device for laboratories and for mobile laboratory containers. In addition to the measurement system, the development also includes sample preparation, software components for experiment control and data analysis as well as IT services for the customer-specific creation of pollen detection software plug-ins for regionally and seasonally relevant pollen species.

The project is funded by AiF Berlin (ZIM) under the number ZF4006816CR8.