Patent ID: 9708647
Date: 2017-07-18
CPC Classifications: C12Q

Claim:
1. A method for assaying a presence of a target nucleic acid molecule in a sample, comprising: (a) providing a chip comprising a sensor that is adjacent to a sample chamber, wherein said sample chamber is configured to retain said sample having or suspected of having said target nucleic acid molecule, wherein said sensor includes (i) a first surface including a probe that selectively couples to said target nucleic acid molecule, (ii) an emission layer below said surface, (iii) an optical detector below said emission layer, wherein said optical detector detects at least one signal from said sample upon transmission through said emission layer, which at least one signal is an optical signal generated upon interaction between said probe and said target nucleic acid molecule, and (iv) a second surface including a control probe that does not selectively couple to said target nucleic acid molecule, wherein said control probe provides a control signal separate from said optical signal; (b) providing said sample in said sample chamber under conditions that permit said probe to selectively couple to said target nucleic acid molecule; (c) subjecting said first surface and second surface to a temperature change while said sample is in said sample chamber; (d) using said sensor to measure said at least one signal in real-time while subjecting said first surface and second surface to said temperature change; wherein said at least one signal is not measured during amplification of said target nucleic acid molecule, wherein said at least one signal is generated upon energy transfer between an energy acceptor coupled to said target nucleic acid molecule and an energy donor coupled to said probe, and (e) generating signal versus temperature data using measurements of said at least one signal with said temperature change, wherein said signal versus temperature data is normalized against measurements of said control signal while said second surface is subjected to said temperature change.