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US 12,461,029 B2Granted
Continuous flow air sampling and rapid pathogen detection system
AssigneeNortheastern University
InventorJeffrey Ruberti
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods and devices for continuous flow monitoring of a liquid sample for presence of an airborne microbial pathogen are provided. The liquid sample can be derived from environmental air. The methods and devices provide for continuous labeling of a targeted pathogen in the liquid sample with a fluorescent probe. A customized fluorescence detector is provided that can detect labeled pathogens during continuous flow.
Claims19
A device for automated detection of a microbial pathogen in air, the system comprising:
- a collection module operative to continuously collect an air sample suspected of comprising the microbial pathogen and form a continuously flowing liquid sample comprising the microbial pathogen from the air sample;
- a sample processing module operative to mix a labeling reagent with the flowing liquid sample, whereby the reagent labels the microbial pathogen to provide fluorescently labeled microbial pathogen suspended in a continuously flowing liquid stream;
- a centrifugation module comprising a spinning rotor operative to separate the fluorescently labeled pathogen in the continuously flowing stream from unbound labeling reagent and continuously flow the separated fluorescently labeled pathogen through a scanning region of the rotor;
- and
- a fluorescence detector operative to continuously scan the scanning region and detect the presence, absence, or amount of the fluorescently labelled pathogen.
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Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.