Spectral calibration method and system for multiple instruments

A method of calibrating a spectral detector instrument comprising:

• receiving a plate containing one or more potential targets and spectral species in each well of a plate having one or more wells;
• exposing each well in the plate to an excitation source that cause the spectral species to fluoresce in correlation to the presence of the target;
• measuring the initial signal values received from the spectral species in different well positions of the plate;
• and
• adjusting the initially measured signal values using a calibration factor for each well and spectral species combination derived from a calibration plate having predetermined relative concentrations of the one or more spectral species.

An apparatus for generating calibration factors for a spectral detector instrument, comprising:

• means for receiving a calibration plate containing one or more spectral species in each well of the calibration plate;
• means for exposing the calibration plate to an excitation source that causes the one or more spectral species in each of the wells to fluoresce;
• means for measuring a signal response associated with each spectral species at each different well position in the calibration plate;
• means for comparing the measured signal response for each spectral species at each well position in the calibration plate with a predetermined signal response for each spectral species;
• and
• means for determining a calibration factor for each well and spectral species in response to the comparison to compensate for the difference between the measured signal response and the predetermined signal response.

A computer program product for calibrating a spectral detector instrument, tangibly stored on a computer-readable medium, comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to:

• receive a plate containing one or more potential targets and spectral species in each well of a plate having one or more wells;
• expose each well in the plate to an excitation source that cause the spectral species to fluoresce in correlation to the presence of the target;
• measure the initial signal values received from the spectral species in different well positions of the plate;
• and
• adjust the initially measured signal values using a calibration factor for each well and spectral species combination derived from a calibration plate having predetermined relative concentrations of the one or more spectral species.