System and method

• US 20040013568A1
• Filed: 07/14/2003
• Published: 01/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: deltaDOT Limited
• Original Assignee: deltaDOT Limited
• Inventors: Sideris, Dimitrios
• Granted Patent: US 7,425,252 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 422/68.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 27/44717 Arrangements for investigating the separated zones, e.g. localising zones

Abstract

An analysis system for and method of enabling determination of the velocities of migrating objects, the system comprising an equiphase space-time map generator for generating an equiphase space-time map of equiphase points from each of a plurality of data sets representative of the signals detected at a plurality of spaced positions, with the velocities of the objects being determinable by fitting the sets of equiphase points in the space-time map corresponding to the respective objects.

Claims

1. An analysis system for enabling determination of the velocities of migrating objects, comprising an equiphase space-time map generator for generating an equiphase space-time map of equiphase points from each of a plurality of data sets representative of the signals detected at a plurality of spaced positions, with the velocities of the objects being determinable by fitting the sets of equiphase points in the space-time map corresponding to the respective objects.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a velocity sorter for determining the nominal velocities associated with the signal peaks in the signals and grouping those signal peaks into sets according to nominal velocity.

3. The system of claim 1 or 2, further comprising a vertex finder for identifying at least one vertex from the space-time map, with a single vertex being identified for each group of objects having a common constraint and the velocities of the objects being determinable from the sets of equiphase points in the space-time map as fitted by the respective vertex.

4. The system of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the space-time map generator is configured to transform each data set into a set of local slopes and determine the local minima as the minimum absolute local derivatives.

5. The system of any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the space-time map generator is configured to utilise a corrected time component in generating the space-time map according to a function of the electric current variation.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the correction is according to the function t_c=∫

I₀/I(t′

)dt′

in the range of 0 to t, where t is the measured time, t_c is the corrected time, I is the measured current and I₀ is the reference current.

7. The system of any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the objects are non-labelled objects.

8. The system of any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the objects are labelled objects.

9. The system of any of claims 1 to 8, wherein the objects are migrated through a channel.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the channel comprises a separation channel through which the objects are electrophoretically driven.

11. The system of any of claims 1 to 10, wherein the objects comprise components from one sample.

12. The system of any of claims 1 to 10, wherein the objects comprise components from a plurality of separate samples.

13. The system of any of claims 1 to 12, wherein the objects comprise molecular components.

14. The system of any of claims 1 to 13, wherein the objects comprise polymeric components.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the components comprise DNA bands.

31. An electrophoresis apparatus including the system of any of claims 1 to 15.

16. A method of enabling determination of the velocities of migrating objects, comprising the steps of:

determining equiphase points from the signal peaks of each of the signals detected at a plurality of spaced positions; and

generating an equiphase space-time map of the equiphase points, with the velocities of the objects being determinable by fitting the sets of equiphase points in the space-time map corresponding to the respective objects.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising the steps of determining the nominal velocities associated with the signal peaks in the signals and grouping those signal peaks into sets according to nominal velocity.

18. The method of claim 16 or 17, further comprising the step of identifying at least one vertex from the space-time map, with a single vertex being identified for each group of objects having a common constraint and the velocities of the objects being determinable from the sets of equiphase points in the space-time map as fitted by the respective vertex.

19. The method of any of claims 16 to 18, wherein the equiphase points are determined by transforming each data set into a set of local slopes and determining the local minima as the minimum absolute local derivatives.

20. The method of any of claims 16 to 19, wherein a time component corrected according to a function of the electric current variation is utilised in generating the space-time map.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the correction is according to the function t_c=∫

I₀/I(t′

)dt′

in the range of 0 to t, where t is the measured time, t_c is the corrected time, I is the measured current and I₀ is the reference current.

22. The method of any of claims 16 to 21, wherein the objects are non-labelled objects.

23. The method of any of claims 16 to 21, wherein the objects are labelled objects.

24. The method of any of claims 16 to 23, wherein the objects are migrated through a channel.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the channel comprises a separation channel through which the objects are electrophoretically driven.

26. The method of any of claims 16 to 25, wherein the objects comprise components from one sample.

27. The method of any of claims 16 to 25, wherein the objects comprise components from a plurality of separate samples.

28. The method of any of claims 16 to 27, wherein the objects comprise molecular components.

29. The method of any of claims 16 to 28, wherein the objects comprise polymeric components.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the components comprise DNA bands.

32. An analysis system for enabling determination of the velocities of migrating objects substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

33. A method of enabling determination of the velocities of migrating objects substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.