Sample collection and bioluminescent analysis system

A portable monitoring system, comprising:

• an elongated probe assembly having a proximate end and a distal end and a conduit that extends between an opening at least proximate the proximate end and a substantially transparent chamber portion at least proximate the distal end, the conduit sized and dimensioned to receive a swab therein via the opening;
• and
• an instrument including a housing, a dark chamber assembly, a multi-pixel photon counter, and a control subsystem, the dark chamber assembly, the multi-pixel photon counter sensor and the control subsystem housed by the housing, the dark chamber assembly having a passage sized to removably receive the elongated probe assembly therein via an entrance that provides access into the passage from an exterior of the housing and which terminates in a dark chamber having an inner surface that at least partially encloses an interior of the dark chamber, at least a portion of the inner surface optically reflective and spherical with an associated focal point, the passage having a longitudinal axis that intersects the focal point of the optically reflective and spherical portion of the inner surface of the dark chamber, the multi-pixel photon counter sensor exposed to the interior of the dark chamber and shielded thereby from any ambient light, the control subsystem communicatively coupled to the multi-pixel photon counter sensor.

A probe assembly for use with a monitoring system, the probe assembly comprising:

• at least one elongated first tubular member having a proximate end and a distal end, a conduit that extends from an opening at least proximate the proximate end and which terminates in a transparent chamber portion at least proximate the distal end, a distal portion of the first tubular member which forms the transparent chamber portion substantially transparent to at least a first number of wavelengths of light, a proximate portion of the first tubular member being opaque to the at least first number of the wavelengths of light, the conduit sized and dimensioned to receive, via the opening, a swab therein, and the opening selectively closeable when the swab is received in the conduit.