Systems and methods for automated melting curve analysis

A computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-readable instructions configured to cause a computing device to perform a method for analyzing melting curve data, the method comprising:

• accessing experimental melting curve data, the experimental melting curve data comprising a plurality of electro-optical (EO) radiation measurements as a function of temperature, the measurements obtained by melting a compound comprising a fluorescing dye, wherein the experimental melting curve data comprises a background EO radiation signal;
• accessing a model of the background EO radiation signal;
• and
• calculating a deviation function, the deviation function quantifying a deviation between the experimental melting curve data and the model of the background EO radiation signal as a function of temperature.

An apparatus for analyzing melting curve data, comprising:

• a computing device comprising a processor;
• an acquisition module operable on the processor and configured to access experimental melting curve data, the experimental melting curve data comprising a plurality of electro-optical (EO) radiation measurements obtained by melting a compound comprising a fluorescing dye, wherein the experimental melting curve data comprises a background EO radiation signal;
• a modeling module operable on the processor and configured to access a model of the background EO radiation signal;
• a processing module operable on the processor and configured to calculate a deviation function, the deviation function quantifying a deviation between the experimental melting curve data and the model of the background EO radiation signal,
• wherein the processing module calculates the deviation function by segmenting the experimental melting curve data into a plurality of windows, each window defined within a region of the experimental melting curve data, calculating a plurality of fit parameters, each fit parameter calculated within a respective one of the windows and quantifying deviation between the experimental melting curve data and the model of the background EO radiation signal within the respective window, and wherein the deviation function is formed from the fit parameters.

A method for analyzing melting curve data, the method comprising:

• accessing experimental melting curve data, the experimental melting curve data comprising a plurality of electro-optical (EO) radiation measurements along a melting gradient, the measurements obtained by applying the melting gradient to a compound comprising an EO radiation emitting dye, wherein the experimental melting curve data comprises a background EO radiation signal;
• accessing a model of the background EO radiation signal;
• calculating a deviation function, the deviation function quantifying a deviation between the experimental melting curve data and the model of the background EO radiation signal as a function of the melting gradient, by
• segmenting the experimental melting curve data into a plurality of windows, each window defined within a region of the experimental melting curve data,
• calculating a plurality of fit parameters, each fit parameter quantifying a deviation between the experimental melting curve data and the model of the background EO radiation signal within a respective window, and
• forming the deviation function from the fit parameters;
• and
• storing the deviation function on a computer-readable storage medium for use in analyzing the compound.