Methods and arrays for target analyte detection and determination of target analyte concentration in solution

A method of measuring the concentration of a target analyte in a sample using a competitive assay, comprising:

• contacting labelled molecules and target analyte from the sample with a plurality of capture components capable of binding to the labelled molecule and the target analyte, wherein the target analyte competes with the labelled molecules for binding to the capture components such that the target analyte preferentially binds to the capture component;
• forming a plurality of capture sites comprising the capture components, wherein a portion of the plurality of capture sites contains capture components with immobilized labelled molecules, and another portion of the plurality of capture sites contains capture components that are not immobilized to labelled molecules;
• determining a total percentage of the capture sites that do not contain a captured labelled molecule;
• and
• determining the concentration of the target analyte in the sample from the total percentage.

A method of measuring the concentration of a target analyte in a sample using a competitive assay, comprising:

• contacting labelled molecules with a plurality of capture components capable of binding to the labelled molecule and the target analyte, and wherein at least some of the labelled molecules become immobilized to the capture component;
• adding target analyte from the sample to the plurality of capture components containing the labelled molecules, wherein the target analyte competes with the labelled molecules for binding to the capture components such that the target analyte preferentially binds to and displaces labelled molecules from the capture component;
• forming a plurality of capture sites comprising the capture components, wherein a portion of the plurality of capture sites contains capture components with immobilized labelled molecules, and another portion of the plurality of capture sites contains capture components that are not immobilized to labelled molecules;
• determining a total percentage of the capture sites that do not contain a captured labelled molecule;
• and
• determining the concentration of the target analyte in the sample from the total percentage.

A method of measuring the concentration of one or more types of target analyte in a sample, comprising:

• contacting the target analyte from the sample with a plurality of capture sites comprising a plurality of capture components capable of binding to the one or more types of target analyte, the plurality of capture components comprising more than one different type of capture component, wherein
• a. more than one different type of capture component is associated with each capture site, or
• b. each individual capture site of the plurality of capture sites each comprises only one type of the different types of capture components, with wherein the plurality of capture sites comprises some capture sites comprising a capture component that is of a different type than a capture component contained in other capture sites;
• and
• determining a total percentage of the capture sites than contain at least one type of captured target analyte molecule;
• and
• determining the concentration of the at least one type of target analyte in the sample from said percentage.

A method of detecting the presence of a target analyte in a sample, comprising:

• contacting target analyte from the sample with a plurality of capture components capable of binding to the target analyte from the sample;
• forming a plurality of capture sites comprising the capture components, wherein a portion of the plurality of capture sites contains capture components with immobilized target analyte;
• and
• determining the presence or absence of captured target analyte in an individual capture site of the plurality of capture sites by detecting the presence or absence of a signal at the individual capture site;
• wherein the absence of a signal at the individual capture site indicates the presence of a captured target analyte at the individual capture site, and the presence of a signal at the individual capture site indicates the absence of any captured target analyte at that the individual capture site.