Patent ID: 8957002
Filing Date: 2015-02-17
Classification: B01J,B82Y,C12Q,C40B,G01N

Abstract:
1. A sensor chip comprising: a substrate at least a portion of which is covered by a metal nanoparticle film, wherein the metal nanoparticle film comprises nanoparticles covalently attached to the substrate, the nanoparticles having a size in the range of 3.6 to 31.4 nm in diameter, and the metal nanoparticle film having a surface roughness of between about 0.7 nm and about 3 nm; a first nucleic acid molecule that is characterized by being able to (i) self-anneal into a hairpin conformation and (ii) hybridize specifically to a target nucleic acid molecule, the first nucleic acid molecule having first and second ends, which first end is tethered to the metal nanoparticle film; and a fluorophore bound to the second end of the first nucleic acid molecule; whereby when the first nucleic acid molecule is in the hairpin conformation, the metal nanoparticle film substantially quenches fluorescent emissions by the fluorophore, and when the first nucleic acid molecule is in a non-hairpin conformation fluorescent emissions by the fluorophore are surface plasmon-enhanced and yield an R-value of at least about 3.4.