Hydrophilic IR transparent membrane, spectroscopic sample holder comprising same and method of using same
AssigneeThe United States of America, as represented by the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services
InventorsMagdi Mossoba, Suflan Al-Khaldi
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Abstract
The present invention features hydrophilic IR-transparent porous membranes, particularly hydrophilic IR-transparent porous polyethylene membranes and methods of preparing the hydrophilic membranes by treatment of hydrophobic IR-transparent porous membranes with plasma. The present invention further features spectroscopic sample holders which incorporate the hydrophilic IR-transparent porous membranes and methods of identifying bacteria and other microorganisms in samples by infrared spectroscopy.
Claims14
A method of assaying a test sample for bacteria, the method comprising:
- contacting a microporous hydrophilic polymeric membrane which is transparent to infrared radiation with a wavenumber of between 1400 cm−1 and 750 cm−1 with a test sample;
- incubating the membrane after contacting with the test sample under conditions conducive to formation of bacterial microcolonies;
- measuring an absorbance IR spectrum of the bacterial microcolonies grown on the hydrophilic membrane contacted with the test sample;
- and
- analyzing the absorbance IR spectrum for the identification of bacterial microcolonies.
A method of assaying a test sample for bacteria, the method comprising:
- contacting a microporous hydrophilic polymeric membrane which is transparent to infrared radiation with a wavenumber of between 1400 cm−1 and 750 cm−1 with a test sample;
- incubating the membrane after contacting with the test sample under conditions conducive to formation of bacterial microcolonies;
- measuring a test IR spectrum after incubating the hydrophilic microporous polymeric membrane;
- measuring a control IR spectrum of an IR-transparent microporous hydrophilic membrane which was not contacted with the test sample;
- and
- analyzing differences between the test IR spectrum and the control IR spectrum to determine the presence of bacteria in the test sample.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.