Methods for determining the concentration of an analyte in solution
First Claim
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1. A method of determining the concentration of an analyte in a fluid sample to be tested, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) partitioning at least a portion of the analyte molecules in the fluid sample across a plurality of reaction vessels so that more than 20% but less than 95% of the reaction vessels contain at least one molecule, wherein the analyte is attached to a nanoparticle or microparticle by a capture component;
(b) determining the presence or absence of the analyte in each reaction vessel to identify the number of reaction vessels that contain analyte and/or to identify the number of reaction vessels that contain no analyte; and
(c) determining the concentration of the analyte in the fluid sample by a Gaussian distribution analysis of the number of reaction vessels that contain the analyte.
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Abstract
Disclosed is a method for measuring the concentration of an analyte or analytes in a solution. Although the methods can be conducted using a number of different assay formats, in one embodiment, the assays are conducted in reaction vessels defined, at least in part, by the distal ends of fiber optic strands.
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10 Claims
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1. A method of determining the concentration of an analyte in a fluid sample to be tested, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) partitioning at least a portion of the analyte molecules in the fluid sample across a plurality of reaction vessels so that more than 20% but less than 95% of the reaction vessels contain at least one molecule, wherein the analyte is attached to a nanoparticle or microparticle by a capture component; (b) determining the presence or absence of the analyte in each reaction vessel to identify the number of reaction vessels that contain analyte and/or to identify the number of reaction vessels that contain no analyte; and (c) determining the concentration of the analyte in the fluid sample by a Gaussian distribution analysis of the number of reaction vessels that contain the analyte. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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Specification