A quantitative method for determining structural and functional characteristics and/or the pathological status of a tissue includes the steps of generating data for a dynamic optical curve over a period of time based on an optical property of a tissue, or portion thereof, that has been exposed to a biomarker and, based on the data, determining a value of a dynamic optical parameter. The value of the dynamic optical parameter is compared with reference values of the dynamic optical parameter known to be linked to a structural or functional characteristic and/or the pathological status of the tissue； and based on the comparison, a structural or functional characteristic and/or the pathological status of the tissue, or portion thereof is determined. A computer readable medium holds computer program instructions for carrying out this method. Reference values can be calculated by measuring dynamic optical properties from known representative tissue samples. Preferred tissue samples include epithelial and cervical tissue samples. Preferred methods involve diagnosing and/or grading neoplasia and/or HPV infection and/or calculating nuclear to cytoplasmic ratios of the cells in the tissue sample.
