Portable testing device for analyzing biological samples

Inventors

Baumgartner, Mark B. • Hodgson, Cory D. • Bristow, Andrew L. • Syverson, Paul A. • Pexsa, Grant L. • Davis, Christopher T. • Schoeneck, Rich • Brown, Duane • Cook, Darren

Assignees

Agdia Inc

Abstract

A portable testing device includes a hosing with an integrated touchscreen display and a receptacle in which a sample holder containing a biological sample and reagent mixture can be placed. The portable testing device further includes an optical assembly positioned in the housing, an electronic assembly that is configured to receive data from the optical assembly and transmit it for display upon the touchscreen display, and a power supply in the housing to power the portable testing device. The optical assembly includes an excitation filter that extends across the entire optical assembly and an emission filter that extends across the entire optical assembly.

Core Innovation

The invention is a portable testing device that includes a case having a receptacle configured to receive a sample holder containing a biological sample and reagent mixture. The device includes an optical assembly positioned in the case, configured to amplify and detect a signal from the biological sample and reagent mixture in the sample holder. The optical assembly further includes a sample block that receives the sample holder and comprises a plurality of cavities shaped to receive the sample holder.

The optical assembly uses a first housing portion positioned on a first side of the sample block and a second housing portion positioned on a second side of the sample block opposite the first side. The first housing portion comprises a first excitation filter and a first emission filter, and includes a first plurality of light-emitting diodes positioned on a side of the first excitation filter opposite the plurality of cavities, and a first plurality of photodetectors positioned on a side of the first emission filter opposite the plurality of cavities. The second housing portion similarly comprises a second excitation filter and a second emission filter, and includes a second plurality of light-emitting diodes and a second plurality of photodetectors positioned on opposite sides of the second excitation and emission filters relative to the plurality of cavities.

The invention also includes an electronic assembly configured to receive data from the optical assembly and transmit the received data to be displayed on a display device. In the described configurations, the optical assembly is configured to support excitation and emission filtering between the light-emitting diodes and the photodetectors to amplify and detect signals from the sample and reagent mixture within the sample holder. The portable testing device is presented as field-deployable and integrates these functions in an all-in-one housing.

Claims Coverage

The claim set includes one independent claim (clm-00001). The independent claim focuses on a portable testing device architecture integrating a receptacle and sample block with a multi-part optical assembly using excitation filters, emission filters, light-emitting diodes, and photodetectors, and an electronic assembly that transmits optical data to a display device. Dependent refinements further specify additional optical/path details, multi-wavelength filter and LED configurations, LED operating cycle-rate constraints, and heating within the optical assembly.

Across the independent claim, the main inventive content is the integrated portable architecture: a case receptacle holding a sample holder, an optical assembly with a cavity-shaped sample block and dual-side excitation/emission filtering using LED and photodetector groupings, and an electronic assembly that transmits detected optical data to a display device.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications