Successive sampling device and associated method

Abstract

A method of determining a number of a solution constituent includes introducing a first number of solution constituents to a first test location, establishing a first binding environment for the introduced first number of solution constituents, creating a first residual number of solution constituents by binding a first plurality of solution constituents, establishing a second binding environment for the first residual number of solution constituents, creating a second residual number of solution constituents by binding a second plurality of solution constituents from the first residual number of solution constituents, obtaining a first signal associated with the bound first plurality of solution constituents, obtaining a second signal associated with the bound second plurality of solution constituents, and determining a second number of a constituent of interest based upon the obtained first signal and the obtained second signal.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to diagnostic tests and more particularly to affinity-based diagnostic tests. Background technique [0002] Numerous scientific studies in the fields of biochemistry and medicine (especially in recent decades) have shown the fact that a wide range of diseases and physical conditions are expressed by molecular changes in the human body. In many cases, early detection of molecular changes can lead to earlier diagnosis of the condition, which greatly increases the likelihood of effective treatment of the condition. [0003] Many molecular changes are identified by assays that detect and quantify analyte molecules such as DNA, RNA or proteins. These assays are based on the specific binding of analyte molecules to capture molecules, generally the bound analyte molecules are directly proportional to the total number of analyte molecules in the test solution. This type of detection method is described as an "affinity assay" and...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0004] Often affinity assays are limited by the fact that each set of capture molecules typically yields only a single data point

A single data point is usually not enough to calculate accurate results, especially when there are unknown

These unknowns can be the presence of cross-reactive molecules, molecules other than the analyte of interest that can bind to the capture molecule, thus rendering quantitative results useless and causing false positives

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