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US 2006/0216696 A1Published application
Rapid plague detection system
OwnerJon Gogueninventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention provides a system including a compact biological agent detector that determines the presence and amount of a biological agent by a specific immunoassay and furnishes a rapid and convenient readout of the immunoassay results. In another aspect, the invention provides a method of determining the presence and amount of a biological agent in a sample.
Claims78
A biological agent detector comprising:
- a sample chamber having an optical waveguide and containing an analysis solution comprising a first antibody specific to the biological agent wherein the first antibody is affixed to a substrate that undergoes relative movement with respect to the analysis solution in response to applied external force,
- a first complex of the first antibody and a first fluorophore;
- an excitation light source;
- an optical system that projects an image of light emitted by excited molecules of the first fluorophore onto a photodetector array wherein the photodetector array produces an output signal that is representative of the position, intensity and wavelength of the light emitted by excited molecules of the first fluorophore;
- and
- an image analyzer that processes the electronic signal representation of the image produced by the photodetector array.
3 more elements
A biological agent detector comprising:
- a sample chamber having an optical waveguide and containing an analysis solution comprising a first antibody specific to the biological agent wherein the first antibody is affixed to a substrate;
- a first complex of the first antibody and a first fluorophore;
- a second complex of a second antibody and a second fluorophore, wherein the second fluorophore is distinguishable from the first fluorophore by spectral characteristics
- an excitation light source;
- a photodetector array optically coupled to the sample chamber;
- wherein the photodetector array produces an output signal that is representative of the position, intensity and wavelength of the light emitted by excited molecules of the first fluorophore;
- and
- an image analyzer that processes the electronic signal representation of the image produced by the photodetector array wherein the image analyzer compares the electronic signal representation of the image of light emitted by excited molecules of the first fluorophore to the electronic signal representation of the image of light emitted by excited molecules of the second fluorophore.
5 more elements
A method for determining the presence and amount of a biological agent in a sample comprising the steps of:
- placing the sample in a sample chamber having an optical waveguide;
- contacting the sample with an analysis solution comprising a buffer and reagents, the reagents comprising a first antibody affixed to a substrate, and a conjugate of the first antibody and a first fluorophore, wherein the first antibody is specific to the biological agent comprising a target analyte;
- reacting the sample with the reagents to form a complex of the target analyte with the first antibody labeled by the first fluorophore;
- moving the complex into the optical evanescence field of a optical waveguide;
- irradiating the optical evanescence field with an excitation light source;
- imaging the light emitted by excited fluorophores on a photodetector array;
- producing a signal representative of the light emitted by excited fluorophores;
- processing the signal to produce a value representative of the presence and amount of the biological agent based on the specific binding of the first antibody;
- and
- reporting the value to determine the presence and amount of the biological agent in a sample.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.