Single Particle Light Detection for Low Concentration Analysis
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current optical analysis techniques using confocal microscopes struggle to detect and quantify light-emitting particles at low concentrations due to statistical averaging processes, leading to inaccurate results and inefficient measurement times, especially when the concentration of fluorescent molecules is below 1 nM.
Innovation Solution
A method and device that use a confocal or multiphoton microscope to move a light detection region within the sample solution, detecting light from individual light-emitting particles until a predetermined number is reached, allowing for the optimization of measurement time based on particle concentration and achieving accurate results with reduced scattering.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If statistical averaging processes are used to detect light from fluorescent molecules, then measurement can be performed, but accuracy deteriorates at low concentrations (below 1 nM)
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and detects individual particle signals separately rather than averaging them statistically. By isolating single particle detection events and analyzing them individually, the method maintains detection accuracy even when particle concentration is very low (below 1 nM), as each particle's light emission is measured independently without being diluted by statistical averaging of other particles
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the detection parameter from measuring average fluorescence intensity (statistical parameter) to measuring individual particle light emission events (single-photon level parameter). This parameter change enables accurate detection at low concentrations by focusing on discrete quantum events rather than continuous averaged signals that require higher particle densities
2Productivity
If conventional optical analysis methods are used, then measurement can be performed, but measurement time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses highly sensitive detectors that automatically detect and count individual photon events from single particles without requiring manual intervention or complex statistical processing. The detection process is self-acting, where each particle's light emission is immediately registered and counted, enabling rapid measurement that is efficient across a wide range of concentrations without time-consuming optimization
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces mechanical/statistical signal averaging methods with direct quantum-level photon counting. By substituting the mechanical approach of collecting and averaging many photons from multiple particles with the quantum approach of counting individual photons from individual particles, the system achieves faster measurement times while maintaining or improving accuracy
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enables the detection of light-emitting particles at lower concentrations with improved accuracy and reduced measurement time, optimizing the analysis process regardless of particle concentration, and is applicable for both biological and non-biological samples.
Implementation Method 1
detection of light from a single light-emitting particle... a particle to which an arbitrary light-emitting label or light-emitting probe has been attached, and the light emitted from a light-emitting particle may be fluorescence
Implementation Method 2
detection and/or measurement of faint light at a single photon or single fluorescent molecule level have become possible by using an optical system of a confocal microscope and a photon counting technique capable of the photon counting (single photon detection)
Data Source
AI summary
In the scanning molecule counting method using the light measurement with a confocal microscope or a multiphoton microscope, a measuring time is optimized with suppressing the scattering in a result small irrespective of light-emitting particle concentrations. In the inventive technique of detecting and analyzing the light from an light-emitting particle, there are repeated processes of detecting the light intensity from a light detection region with moving the position of the light detection region of an optical system in a sample solution by changing the optical path of the optical system of the microscope, and detecting the signals of the light of light-emitting particles individually, and based on the time taken for the number of the signals from the light-emitting particles to reach a predetermined number, the light-emitting particle concentration in the sample solution is determined.