Process for testing microparticle response to its environment

A process for screening a test specimen for the presence of a particular chemical agent comprising the steps of:

• A. preparing a chemical suspension from a sample known to be free of said particular chemical agent by combining in a bacterial growth medium said sample with exponential growth phase bacteria whose sensitivity response to said chemical agent is known;
• B. incubating said control suspension for a predetermined period of time sufficient for metabolism to occur;
• C. inserting said control suspension into the path of an incident narrow, substantially monochromatic beam of light;
• D. measuring the intensity of light scattered by said control suspension at a plurality of angular locations about said control suspension to derive a control differential scattering pattern produced by said control suspension;
• E. preparing a test suspension from a test sample to be screened for said particular chemical agent by combining in a bacterial growth medium said test sample with substantially the same type of bacteria in exponential growth phase as used to prepare the control suspension;
• F. incubating said test suspension for substantially the same period of time and under substantially the same conditions as the control suspension;
• G. inserting said test suspension into said beam path;
• H. measuring the intensity of light scattered by said test suspension at substantially the same angular locations about said test suspension to derive a test differential scattering pattern produced by said test suspension;
• I. comparing said test and control patterns to yield a score, S, indicative of the effects of the test sample on the growth and morphology of the test bacterial suspension relative to the control bacterial suspension;
• and,
• J. determining from the magnitude of said score the presence of said particular chemical agent in the test sample.

A process for measuring the response of antibodies to their environment, comprising the steps of:

• A. preparing an antibody control sample;
• B. inserting said control sample into the path of an incident narrow, substantially monochromatic beam of light;
• C. measuring the intensity of light scattered by said sample at a plurality of angular locations about said sample relative to the direction of said incident beam sufficient to derive a control differential scattering pattern produced by said sample;
• D. preparing an molecular test sample including a selected environmental change relative to said control sample;
• E. inserting said test sample into said beam path;
• F. measuring the intensity of light scattered by said test sample at substantially the same said angular locations about said test sample to derive a test differential scattering pattern produced by said test sample;
• and
• G. comparing said control and test patterns to determine a selected relative difference therebetween, said difference providing an indication of the response of said antibodies to said selected environmental change.

A process for quantitating the response of biologically derived molecules to their environment, comprising the steps of:

• A. preparing a set of molecular control samples including a reference sample, each in a different environment,
• B. inserting said control samples sequentially into the path of an incident, narrow, substantially monochromatic beam of light;
• C. measuring the intensity of light scattered by each control sample at a plurality of angular locations about said control sample relative to the direction of said incident beam sufficient to derive a set of control differential scattering patterns produced by said control samples;
• D. comparing said patterns relative to the reference control sample so as to derive a score, S, for each control environment condition and therefrom a set of scores deriving a response function f(S);
• E. preparing a molecular test sample in a test environment;
• F. inserting said test sample into the path of incident, narrow, substantially monochromatic beam of light;
• G. measuring the intensity of light scattered by said test sample at substantially the same said angular locations about said test sample to derive a test differential scattering pattern produced by said test sample;
• H. comparing said test pattern with the previously measured reference control patterns to derive a score, S, indicative of the test environment;
• and,
• I. comparing said score, S, with said control response function, f(S), to derive and quantitate molecular response to the test environment.