Patent ID: 8222047
Filing Date: 2012-07-17
Classification: C12Q,G01N,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A method of detecting analyte molecules or particles in a fluid sample, comprising: exposing a substrate comprising a plurality of capture components to a sample comprising a plurality of analyte molecules or particles, so that analyte molecules or particles associate with capture components to form a plurality of complexes, each complex being immobilized with respect to the substrate and comprising at least one capture component and at least one analyte molecule or particle; dissociating at least a portion of each complex to form a plurality of dissociated species, which are not immobilized with respect to the substrate; partitioning the plurality of dissociated species across a plurality of reaction vessels; determining the presence or absence of a dissociated species in at least one reaction vessel; and determining the number of the plurality of reaction vessels and/or fraction of the plurality of reaction vessels that contain or do not contain a dissociated species, wherein the plurality of dissociated species are partitioned such that a statistically significant fraction of the reaction vessels contain no dissociated species and a statistically significant fraction of reaction vessels contain at least one dissociated species.