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US 7,888,060 B2Granted
Method for detecting a target using enzyme directed deposition of elemental metal
AssigneeNanoprobes, Inc.
InventorsJames F. Hainfeld, Wenqiu Liu, Richard D. Powell, Vishwas N. Joshi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed embodiments concern site-specific, enzymatic-directed deposition of elemental metal for in-situ analysis. Enzyme substrates are contacted with metal ions and subsequently direct the deposition of elemental metals. Sensitive and selective detection of target molecules, such as biomarkers in various biological samples, can be obtained using various methods, such as in-situ chromogenic immunohistochemical (IHC) detection with bright field light microscopy.
Claims18
A method of depositing elemental metal in vicinity of an enzyme, comprising:
- contacting the enzyme with metal ions, selected from the group consisting of silver, gold, iron, mercury, nickel, copper, platinum, palladium, cobalt, iridium ions and a mixture thereof, an oxidizing agent and a reducing agent, wherein a weight ratio of the metal ions to the reducing agent ranges from 1:5 to 5:1, and a weight ratio of the reducing agent to the oxidizing agent ranges from 1:10 to 10:1;
- and
- incubating the enzyme with the metal ions in the presence of the oxidizing agent and the reducing agent, whereby the metal ions are reduced to elemental metal, thereby depositing the elemental metal in the vicinity of the enzyme.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.