Integrated system for sampling and analysis

Inventors

Gordon, Julian

Assignees

Airanswers Inc • ISO-FORCE LLC

Abstract

There is disclosed a device for determination of a sample from a dielectric fluid medium for a bio-specific assay device, comprising: a sampling device and a biosensor, wherein the sampling device concentrates a sample from dielectric medium by electrically focusing the sample on to a capture element and wherein said biosensor is fluidically linked to said capture element thus providing sampling and determination in a unitary device.

Core Innovation

The invention relates to a device for determination of a sample from a dielectric fluid medium for a bio-specific assay device. The device integrates a sampling device and a biosensor into a unitary device in which sampling and determination occur together. The sampling device uses an ionic propulsion device to concentrate a sample from the dielectric fluid medium onto a delimited area of a capture element.

The ionic propulsion device concentrates the sample by electrically focusing the sample on to a delimited area of a capture element. The capture element is then fluidically linked to a biosensor so the captured sample is transferred into a biosensor interrogation region in a seamless manner. This architecture provides a unitary bio-specific assay device configured for dielectric media such as air.

Detection in the unitary system is carried out using an optical sensor device and/or an electrical sensing device as part of the biosensor. Optical embodiments include an interference-reflectance/white-light interference spectroscopy approach and digital imaging with CCD/CMOS for label-free or self-performing readouts, including determination of spectral or wavelength shifts from camera pixel color values and color temperature. Multiplexing is enabled by multiple optical fibers that interconnect to the optical sensing arrangements.

The disclosed embodiments include experimental demonstrations using an ionic-breeze electrode arrangement with silk capture material for ELISA quantitation of the cat allergen Fel d 1. The document also discloses an image-based spectral shift analysis methodology in which wavelength shifts are quantified from pixel color distributions, including shifts across simulated color temperatures.

Claims Coverage

The independent claim defines a unitary bio-specific assay device with two main inventive components: a sampling device that concentrates a dielectric-fluid sample onto a delimited area using an ionic propulsion device via electrically formed potential wells/electrically focusing, and a biosensor fluidically linked to the capture element to provide sampling and determination in a single device. Dependent claim refinements specify delimited-area/sensitivity relationships and narrow the biosensor to electrical or optical sensing with further narrowing to optical wavelength-shift/interference measurement and image-derived wavelength shift determination.

Across the independent claim and its dependent refinements, the core coverage centers on electrically focusing an ionically propelled dielectric-fluid sample onto a delimited capture area, and then fluidically linking that capture to a biosensor so that sampling and determination are performed in a unitary device. The claims further narrow sensing to electrical or optical modalities, including optical wavelength-shift/interference measurement and deriving wavelength shift from digital image pixel color values.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications