Patent ID: 7939285
Filing Date: 2011-05-10
Classification: C12Q,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A method for detecting contaminants in a medium suspected of containing such contaminants, the method comprising the consecutive steps of: a) passing a known volume of said medium through a filter from an influent side to an effluent side in a filter device thereby concentrating the contaminants on the influent side of the filter in the filter device; b) contacting the influent side of the filter in the filter device with a liquid vehicle containing at least one substrate, wherein said at least one substrate through interaction with an enzyme characteristic of the contaminants produces a detectable moiety; c) allowing the substrate to interact with the contaminants on the influent side of the filter in the filter device for a period of time, which is sufficient to allow the detectable moiety to be detected in the liquid vehicle; d) evacuating the liquid vehicle from the influent side of the filter by forcing the liquid vehicle through to the effluent side of the filter; and e) performing a quantitative or qualitative detection of the detectable moiety in the liquid vehicle evacuated in step d and correlating the detection of the moiety to the amount or presence of contaminants in the sample.