Slide-Staining System for Microgravity or Gravity

The centrifuge-operated slide stainer (COSS) is a conceptual self-contained system that could be attractive for use in a variety of histological and cytological procedures in both microgravity and normal Earth gravity. The COSS was conceived specifically for use in staining blood smears on glass slides in order to enable differential white-cell counts (DWCCs) on astronauts during spaceflight. (The differential white-cell count is a standard technique for distinguishing between a healthy condition and any of a number of viral or bacterial infections.) In addition to overcoming microgravitational obstacles to the staining process, the COSS would do most of the routine and tedious processing steps that heretofore, have been performed manually in conventional terrestrial preparation of blood samples. On Earth, the COSS could be useful at remote medical research field stations, military field hospitals, and biomedical research facilities.