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US 2007/0003994 A1Published application
Bioluminescent bioreporter integrated circuit devices and methods for detecting ammonia
AssigneeUT-Battelle, LLC
InventorsMichael Simpson, Michael Paulus, Gary Sayler, Bruce Applegate, Steven Ripp
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Monolithic bioelectronic devices for the detection of ammonia includes a microorganism that metabolizes ammonia and which harbors a lux gene fused with a heterologous promoter gene stably incorporated into the chromosome of the microorganism and an Optical Application Specific Integrated Circuit (OASIC). The microorganism is generally a bacterium.
Claims16
A biosensor for detection of ammonia, comprising:
- an integrated circuit chip comprising a microorganism that metabolizes ammonia and which harbors a lux gene fused with a heterologous promoter gene stably incorporated into the chromosome of said microorganism wherein the microorganism is held sufficiently close to a light detection system located on the chip to detect light emitted by a lux gene product expressed in the presence of ammonia.
A luminometer for the detection of ammonium ion comprising:
- an expression vector comprised within a transformed prokaryotic cell harboring a lux gene fused with a heterologous promoter gene stably incorporated into the chromosome of said cell wherein said gene expresses a bioluminescent protein in the presence of ammonia;
- and
- an integrated circuit that comprises a photodetector to detect light emitted by said bioluminescent protein in the presence of ammonia, said photodetector including at least one p-n junction and including circuitry for reducing or canceling recombination and generation current produced by said photodetector.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.