Patent ID: 11884956
Assignee: THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY
Field: Biotechnology (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC C  G | IPC C

Claim 0:
1. A method for detecting metabolically active bacteria of interest in a sample, the method comprising:
contacting the sample with an aqueous solution having an excess of a trehalose-solvatochromic dye conjugate that comprises:
a trehalose moiety, and
a solvatochromic dye linked to the trehalose moiety, wherein the solvatochromic dye is one of: 4-DMAP, 4-DMN, 6-DMN, Nile Red, 3-HC, 3-MC, PRODAN, Anthradan, NBD or a derivative thereof; and

detecting a spectroscopic signal from the solvatochromic dye moiety of the trehalose-solvatochromic dye conjugate, the spectroscopic signal indicating the uptake of the trehalose-solvatochromic dye conjugate by the metabolically active bacteria of interest in the sample;
wherein the detecting step is performed without removal of the excess of trehalose-solvatochromic dye conjugate in the sample, and wherein the indicative spectroscopic signal is readily detectable over the total spectroscopic signal provided by the excess of trehalose-solvatochromic dye conjugate remaining in the aqueous solution of the sample.