Patent ID: 6394952
Filing Date: 2002-05-28
Classification: G01N,G16H,Y02A,Y10S

Abstract:
A method for determining results from an immunoassay, comprising:(a) testing a patient sample for the presence of a target analyte indicative of a condition or risk of having the condition by reacting the sample with antibodies specific for the analyte in a sandwich assay performed on a test strip, in which one of the antibodies is labeled with a detectable label; (b) scanning the surface of the test strip in with a reader head in a reflectance reader where the reader head is substantially normal to the surface of the strip, wherein: the reflectance reader includes a reader head that comprises: a reader head body; a light emitting diode (LED); a first fiberoptic bundle optically coupled to the light emitting diode; a photodetector; a second fiberoptic bundle optically coupled to the photodetector; an aperture in the reader head body; and a plurality of fiberoptic conductor ends arranged in a sigmoidal distribution in the aperture, a first portion of the fiberoptic conductor ends comprising fiberoptic conductors of the first fiberoptic bundle, and a second portion of the fiberoptic conductor ends comprising fiberoptic conductors of the second fiberoptic bundle such that the plurality of fiberoptic conductor ends are arranged in a substantially co-planar relationship; and the planar surface is held substantially parallel to a plane at an upper surface of the test strip during scanning of the test strip, whereby light is conducted by fiberoptic bundles to the photodetector, which generates a reflection signal indicative of an amount of reflected light; (c) detecting the signal produced by the label in the reflectance reader, wherein the signal is indicative of the presence of the analyte.