Abstract:
An assay system having a channel bounded by first and second reflective surfaces adapted to accommodate a fluid material therebetween and defining a plurality of regions in an array between those surfaces with each region defining a resonant cavity and adapted to receive a capturing material on a surface thereof whereby a source of radiation illuminates each region to provide a standing wave of radiation of within the cavity indicative of binding of said capturing agent to material under investigation, a binding thereof being detected in response to radiation from each cavity indicative of a change in the standing wave pattern.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims priority to commonly assigned Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/455,970 filed Mar. 19, 2003 and International Patent Application Number PCT US2004/008558 filed on Mar. 19, 2004. International Application No. PCT/US00/12287, filed 5 May 2000 is incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     N/A 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     In bio-research, ecological testing, medical testing, drug testing and bio-weapon and hazards detections there is a need for rapid, simultaneous and real time detection of various agents. Typically the agents are provided in a fluid to a test structure, generally an array of some form in which capturing materials of diverse types capable of binding to one or more of the materials undergoing test and provided in the fluid medium. The binding is a result of an affinity that molecules or bio-molecules have for each other and includes the affinities of DNA, RNA, proteins, small molecules and other molecules. DNA arrays and protein arrays, commonly called DNA or protein chips, are two technologies used for bio-molecule affinity sensing in such fields as genomics and proteomics. 
     The array of capturing materials is created in a known pattern such that by correlation of the binding response of the capturing material to the fluid born molecules under test, it is possible by detecting the level of binding at each array element to determine what materials under test are present. In one case of DNA or RNA testing, various sequences of the DNA or RNA molecule are affixed to corresponding locations in the array. DNA or RNA in the fluid being tested will tend to bind where the sequences therein strongly match the sequences attached to the various array sites. 
     Test methods known to date fail to provide high throughput, real time operations or to avoid difficult labeling processes, or to avoid capturing material incompatibility with metal sensor surface, requiring cumbersome linking chemistry that may adversely affect binding properties. 
     Among the techniques previously used which fail to provide all of these requirements in combination are fluorescent tagging. Fluorescent tagging procedures suffer from a number of problems including the difficulty of tagging and the possibility of tagging altering the binding properties. Moreover tagging procedures are difficult to monitor continuously in real time. Among other techniques surface plasmon resonance is popular. This technique, however, requires the affixation of molecules to a metal surface, particularly gold, which has the above mentioned incompatibility problem. Other techniques include waveguide techniques and acoustic detection techniques. Neither of these accommodates a high throughput, requiring a large number of array elements. 
     Finally, another known technique, reflectometric interference spectroscopy, suffers from the complication of using multiple fiber probes, which greatly hinders its ability to become high throughput. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides an affinity detection system which has high throughput, is real time and avoids the complexities of metal, cumbersome equipment and other deficiencies of prior art techniques. 
     According to the teaching of the present invention, an array of biosensor or capturing material elements is formed between first and second surfaces of reflective mirrors. Typically, the mirrors are formed by multi-layer dielectric surfaces selected to be reflective at a particular range of wavelengths, commonly in the IR frequency regions. Light, typically from a laser, is applied through the array and focused onto a photo-detection system such as a CCD chip or photodetector array where each element of the capturing array is focused onto one or more pixels of the image chip. 
     A fluid containing materials under test flows through the array between the surfaces forming the mirror elements, the material having an affinity for a capturing material in one or more array cells. Instead of a fluid (gas or liquid with particles or fluid components under test) a solid of appropriate transparency may be tested. These materials will be bound to the capturing material of that cell having such an affinity changing the resonant properties of the resonant cavity formed between the mirror surfaces in that cell. The result will be a change in the light received by the corresponding CCD pixels. That change can be detected by processing electronics correlating the position of the change, its nature and the known affinity of that particular resonant cavity cell. 
     In this fashion, a large number of bio-molecules or other molecules can be tested for in real time. Array dimensions of hundreds of thousands or millions of cells are possible and the processing electronics available today can easily provide a real time indication of the nature of molecules present in a medium being tested. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
       These and other features of the present invention are described in the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawing of which: 
         FIG. 1  is a diagram illustrating the components of a testing system of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  illustrates an array of bio-probes according to the invention; 
         FIG. 3  illustrates an array of photo-detectors such as a photodetector array for use in the present invention or alternatively as a multi-cell light source according to an embodiment of the invention; 
         FIG. 4  illustrates the operation of a single cell in response to incident light according to the invention; 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a standing wave pattern typical of the present invention when exposed to illumination; 
         FIGS. 6A and 6B  illustrate the variation in cell sensitivity as a function of dielectric layers in opposing mirrors according to the invention; 
         FIGS. 7A and 7B  illustrate the change in resonant wavelength with the cavity narrowing from binding of molecules at different cavity dimensions and mirror compositions; 
         FIGS. 8A ,  8 B and  8 C illustrate the variation of cavity mirror transmittance as a function of wavelength with cavity mirror dielectric layer complexity; 
         FIGS. 9A and 9B  illustrate resonance under differing conditions useful in understanding the invention; 
         FIGS. 10A through 10E  illustrate and example of the invention in actual test use; 
         FIG. 11  illustrates an embodiment with an integral photodetector; and 
         FIG. 12  illustrates a system for testing multiple arrays on a continuous basis. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       FIG. 1  illustrates an optical control system according to the invention in which a wavelength tunable laser  1 , which may be an Aristu MNG638A provides output radiation typically in the vicinity of 1560 nanometers (15,600 Angstroms) to a single mode optical fiber  2 . Radiation in the fiber  2  is applied to an optical attenuator  3 , which may be an Agilent 85156A. The attenuator provides dynamic adjustment consistency to promote the operation of the system as a whole as described below. In order to provide beam cleaning which insures a Gaussian distribution to the spatial intensity profile of the beam, the output of the attenuator  3  is applied through a long coil of single mode fiber  4 , typically 5 Km. The thus cleaned light is applied through a fiber collimator  5  which uses an antireflective coated objective at 1550 nanometers. The collimator produces a 1 mm beam, the diameter being measured between half maximum intensity points. 
     The collimated beam  6  is applied to an optical system comprising a lens  7  which is in the exemplary example a 15 mm focal length antireflective coated lens. The converging beam from the lens  7  is applied through a 50 micron aperture  8  placed at the focal point  9  of the beam from the lens  7 . The function of the 50 micron aperture is to provide further beam cleaning. The thus clean beam is applied to a further antireflective coated lens  10 , typically of a 125 mm focal length. The lens  10  produces a collimated beam  11 , in this example of 10 mm width between half maximum intensity points. The beam  11  is reflected at right angles by a 45° mirror  12  into the array of cells. This optical system may be a microscope system. 
     The detection system comprises a cavity  16  formed between first and second reflecting surfaces  14  and  15  separated by a space within which a standing wave is generated by the radiation in beam  11 . That radiation is applied through a lower support  17 , aperture  18  into a lower or first stage  19  through a further aperture  20 . 
     The second reflective surface  15  is supported by a second stage  21  supported by a second support  22 . Adjusters  23  and  24  allow adjustment of the first stage  19  with respect to the first support  17  while a micrometer  25  provides a similar function for the second stage  21  with respect to the support  22 . 
     The light in beam  11  creates a standing wave pattern in the cavity  16 , particularly one dependent upon the characteristics of a capturing material applied to each cell in an array on the mirror  14 , all as described more completely herein below. Light of an intensity dependant upon the degree of resonance within each cell travels in a beam  30  through a focusing lens  31  to a camera  32 , typically by reflection from a 45° mirror  33 . The camera  32 , which may be a Sensors Unlimited SU128-1.7R camera having a InGaAs sensor with pixels in a 128×128 array, receives that light. Typically, each cell will be imaged onto one or more pixels in the array of camera  32 . The image from camera  32  is read into a computer  34  to an image acquisition card  35 , which may typically be a National Instrument NI-PCI1422. The computer  34  has a controller card  36 , typically a GPIB card, which applies control signals to the tunable laser  1 . The card  36  also operates through a piezoelectric controller  37  to control piezoelectric actuators on the adjusters  23  and  24 , typically placed at their tips where they join the first stage  19 . The computer  34  may have an input/output interface  38  for communication with users, networks, printers display and other typical computer accessories. 
     The computer maintains a feedback loop through the piezoelectric controller  37  on the adjusters  23  and  24  via the camera  32  to sense fringe patterns in the optical image received and processed by the camera  32  which are an indication of an out of parallel condition between the stages  19  and  21 , using known minimization techniques, the piezoelectric drives are operated to minimize those fringing elements thereby obtaining a parallel condition of the stages  19  and  21 . The piezo elements are also operable by the computer to vary the spacing between reflectors as an alternative or complementary to wavelength scanning of the laser radiation. 
     A heating element  42  operates with a heat control unit  43  which may or may not have a connection to computer  34  in order to maintain or control the temperature between the stages  19  and  21  and in particular within the cavity region  16  where standing wave patterns are created by the incident illumination. This heat control accomplishes the function of avoiding dynamic changes on the mirrors during testing. 
     The computer  34  is programmed to process the image data from each pixel received by the camera  32  in order to determine the thickness between the reflectors  14  and  15  in each cell, representative of the binding of material flowed through the intermirror, cavity region  16  for biologic or chemical assay purposes. This process includes the steps of: 
     1. Low pass filtering the intensity wavelength response curves for each pixel with respect to wavelength; 
     2. Cross-correlating the local overlapping groups of pixels to find relative shifts in the intensity wavelength profile; 
     3. Solving an over-determined problem which involves integrating the shifts to find a consistent picture of capturing material surface thickness. 
     In order to develop an intensity wavelength response, the computer  34  will typically cause the tunable laser  1  to scan through a set of wavelengths. 
     In the operation of the feedback control of mirror alignment, if there is an angle between the two mirrors  14  and  15 , such that the distance between them changes by more than a half wavelength, the cavity  16  will be resonant in some places and non-resonant at others. Everywhere the resonance condition is satisfied, the camera  32  and computer  34  will see bright spots on the camera monitoring transmission. For a perfectly flat mirror at an angle, this amounts to horizontal lines indicating equal cavity spacing where resonance is satisfied. As one of the angles is tuned, the lines grow closer together or farther apart. Closer together, indicates that the angle perpendicular to the lines is growing steeper. As one of the adjustment knobs is tuned far to one end, the lines will grow increasing close together and increasing perpendicular to that angle. If the same knob is turned the other direction, the lines grow closer and less perpendicular to that angle. As the knob is kept turning, the lines will go through an optimal position after which they will again start to grow closer together and more perpendicular to the direction of angle change. By adjusting very carefully, one can tune to that optimal position where the lines would start contracting again if there was movement in either direction of the tuning knob, and where the lines are actually parallel to the direction of the angle adjustment. This means that in this direction, the surface is completely flat. The same is repeated for the other direction. Once the other direction is done, the first one has probably moved a bit due to vibration from handling of the system, so an iterative approach may be needed to some extent. Wavelength changes move the lines but not their orientation, and the spacing between lines only changes slightly due to wavelength and can be taken into account by simply realizing that it was due to wavelength not angle change. Most often, we can not get to the point that the surface is completely lit due to surface curvature. A circle is eventually seen instead of the whole screen going bright, because the surface is curved and satisfying the resonant condition at only places on the circle, no matter how parallel the mirrors  14  and  15  are. When this circle is visible, the mirrors  14  and  15  are reasonably parallel and tuning can stop. 
     The peizo/computer control can take over this function and it allows much finer adjustment, making it easier to tune. The peizos do not disturb the system like the hand of a human operator on the adjusters  23  and  24  does. It is then possible to control the system to keep the mirrors  14  and  15  parallel throughout the operation of the biosensor. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates an array of cells  80 , typically those which may be applied to the surface of mirror  14  in bio or protein chips of known design. Hundreds of thousands or even millions of cells  80  can be provided in the mirror  14  within the cavity region  16 . These cells  80 , as noted above, are typically imaged into one or more pixels  82  of a photodetector array  84  in  FIG. 3  within the multi-channel detector  30 . Alternatively, the pattern illustrated by  FIG. 3  can represent the pattern of light emitters such as from laser diodes. The memory associated with processor  34  will correlate one or more of the pixels  82  of the photodetector array  84  to corresponding cells  80  and the particular molecular affinity of the material bonded to the mirror  14 , typically to several angstroms in depth. 
       FIG. 4  illustrates diagrammatically the operation of a single cell  80  of the detection system of the present invention. The cell has a thin layer of a capturing material  90  affixed to it at each cell  80 . The optical thickness of this material may be 5 angstroms and when binding occurs with molecules for which the capturing material there has an affinity the optical thickness may increase by as much as 10 angstroms. 
     Light from the laser  1  provides wavefronts  100  which pass into the cavity region  16  through mirror  12  and are reflective within the cavity  16  by the reflectance of the mirrors  14  and  15  to the wavelength and the incident radiation  100 . As molecules in the flow through cavity  16  bind to the capturing material  90 , the wavelength response will shift from an original array  102  in  FIG. 4A  to a shifted wavelength response  104  in  FIG. 4B . 
       FIG. 5  illustrates in greater detail the mirrors  14  and  15  as consisting of a plurality of alternating silicon and silicon dioxide dielectric layers  106  and  108 , respectively. As illustrated in  FIG. 5 , the surface of the first mirror  14  will typically be terminated with an extra silicon dioxide layer  108  causing a standing wave pattern  110  within the cavity region  16  illustrated in  FIG. 5  to have a peak  112  at the outer wall of the layer  108 . This maximizes the effectiveness and sensitivity of the detection system of the present invention. 
     This effect is more clearly illustrated in  FIGS. 6A and 6B  and accompanying, corresponding  FIGS. 7A and 7B .  FIG. 6A  illustrates substantially the standing wave pattern and dielectric layer scheme of  FIG. 5 .  FIG. 7A  illustrates the wavelength shift corresponding to a 5 nanometer buildup of material at the corresponding cell. 
       FIG. 6B  illustrates the case where the standing wave pattern is a minimum at the front of the mirror  14  and the corresponding relatively insignificant change in resonant wavelength for a 5 nanometer buildup being illustrated in  FIG. 7B . 
     In  FIG. 7A : 
     Cavity is 50 micron cavity filled with a buffer solution; 
     Left curve is for 5 Angstroms of biomaterial; 
     Right curve is for 10 Angstroms of biomaterial; 
     270 nm extra SiO2 layer is present to maximize sensitivity; 
     AR coating is present on mirror backsides; 
     X-axis is wavelength in nm; 
     Y-axis is transmission; 
     Curves shifted 0.004 nm. 
     In  FIG. 7B : 
     Cavity is 50 micron cavity filled with a buffer solution; 
     Left curve is for 5 Angstroms of biomaterial; 
     Right curve is for 10 Angstroms of biomaterial; 
     No extra SiO2 layer is present to maximize sensitivity; 
     AR coating is present on mirror backsides; 
     X-axis is wavelength in nm; 
     Y-axis is transmission; 
     Curves nearly indistinguishable; Curves shifted 0 nm. 
       FIGS. 8A and 8C  illustrate the sensitivity increase as the number of dielectric layers within the mirrors  15  and  14  increases essentially forming a Bragg reflector.  FIGS. 8A-8B  curves represent computer simulations corresponding, from left to right, to 2 sets of alternating high and low index layers, 3 sets, and 4 sets in the far right. The calculations use a solution index of refraction of 1.33 and the material is calculated with an index of refraction of 1.45. The capturing material layer is 0.05 nanometers while the target/capture layer thickness is 0.1 nanometers. 
     The embodiments of the invention may vary. In particular, the wavelength of the applied radiation may be other than within the infrared or IR bands, the radiation applied to the mirrors  15  and  14  may be other than orthogonal and the mirrors  15  and  14  may not necessarily be parallel. The processor and photodetector array, while typically measuring light amplitude as an indication of affinity binding, may detect phase, polarization or actual frequency shifts. The tuning of the laser  36  may be continuous or in discrete steps. A VCSEL array may alternatively be used as a source of radiation as well as laser diodes. 
     Simulation 
       FIGS. 9A-9B  show a simulation of wavelength shifts. 
     In  FIG. 9A : 
     Cavity is 10 micron cavity filled with a buffer solution; 
     Left curve is for 5 Angstroms of biomaterial; 
     Right curve is for 10 Angstroms of biomaterial; 
     270 nm extra SiO2 layer is present to maximize sensitivity; 
     AR coating is present on mirror backsides; 
     X-axis is wavelength in nm; 
     Y-axis is transmission; 
     Curves shifted 0.012 nm. 
     In  FIG. 9B : 
     Cavity is 100 micron cavity filled with a buffer solution; 
     Left curve is for 5 Angstroms of biomaterial; 
     Right curve is for 10 Angstroms of biomaterial; 
     270 nm extra SiO2 layer is present to maximize sensitivity; 
     AR coating is present on mirror backsides; 
     X-axis is wavelength in nm; 
     Y-axis is transmission; 
     Curves shifted 0.001 nm. 
     EXAMPLE 
     Fabrication of test sample: A test pattern has been fabricated in SiO2 to test that the system is working ( FIG. 10A ). 270 nm of SiO2 was deposited on the top surface of the first reflector. This SiO2 layer serves to place the sensing surface at a position in the cavity where the field strength is high (approximately 1 quarter wavelength out from the reflector surface at the wavelengths we are scanning at). The SiO2 surface was then masked and lightly etched to leave 4 square features. The 4 squares are 50 μm×50 μm and 30 μm apart. The pattern is repeated every 500 μm. The sample was masked at the boxes and wet etched everywhere else using HF to remove approximately 15 nm of material. 4 boxes 50 μm×50 μm×15 nm should remain on top of 255 nm SiO2, on top of the reflector. 
     Running experiment: Micrometers were used to position the reflectors close to each other to form the cavity. A z-stage was used to translate one of the reflectors to approximately 100 μm away from the other, to form a 100 μm air cavity. Fringes could be seen on the video output from the camera, indicating that the reflectors were not parallel. An angle stage holding the other reflector was then carefully adjusted until the fringes could no longer be seen. Wavelength was scanned from 1545 nm to 1560 nm in 0.01 nm steps. An image of the cavity was captured at each step with approximately 6× magnification ( FIGS. 10B and 10C  out and in resonance). 
     Processing data: The resulting wavelength response curve for each pixel was then low pass filtered with a 5 samples/nm cutoff. The data were then broken down into groups of 9 waveforms taken from 3×3 sets of neighboring pixels. The groupings were made so that they overlap by 1 row or column of pixels with neighboring groups of 3×3. Within each 3×3 group, the 9 wavelength response curves were cross correlated to each other. The peak of the cross-correlations indicates the shift between those two waveforms. Nine (9) waveforms cross correlating with each other produces 81 correlations, including 9 auto correlations, which leads to 72 shifts describing the relative position of each pixel with respect to the other 8 pixels. This information is heavily redundant. A linear systems over determined problem was setup and solved to find 8 shifts for 8 of the pixels relative to the top left most pixel which was given the shift of zero. This was done for all of the overlapping groups of 3×3 pixels. The top left most group of 3×3 pixels was designated to have a zero overall offset. The offset of the other 3×3 groupings relative to this first 3×3 group was then determined. The offset for each of the 3×3 groupings was found from solving a linear systems over determined problem as well, where the equations are derived from the fact that the 3×3 groupings overlap by columns and rows that must be consistently the same height. The solution of this problem provided an overall offset for each of the 3×3 groups. The final result is a mesh where the height of each pixel indicates the shift between its wavelength response and that of the upper left most pixel on the camera. There are two key advantages to this technique. First, only local waveforms are ever correlated directly. This is important because the wavelength response drifts in overall shape across the sensor surface due to inhomogeneous illumination and curvature of the mirror structure. Comparing only local pixels, we are more assured that the resonant waveform has the same shape and its only the shift we are measuring. Secondly, by comparing each pixel to 8 of its neighbors, redundancy is gained which is used to improve the accuracy of the observed shift over a correlation done between just two pixels. 
     Interpreting the results: The four boxes of  FIG. 10E  in the mesh reflect the results. The boxes appear to be approximately 10 steps high. The steps indicated on the z-axis correspond to the 0.01 nm steps in wavelength that were taken. 
     The best sensitivity we could attain by including the extra SiO2 layer would be a 2/m shift in wavelength for a corresponding shift in surface height where m is the mode number given by m=2*d/lambda, lambda being the wavelength and d being the cavity size. For a 100 μm cavity and wavelengths in the neighborhood of 1.55 μm, the sensitivity would be 0.0155 nm shift in wavelength response for a 1 nm shift in sensor surface height. Alternatively stated, every 1 nm shift in wavelength indicates a 65 nm (1/0.0155) shift in sensor surface height. Again, this assumes a quarter-wavelength of SiO2 on the reflector surface. As this SiO2 layer would differ towards a half wave thickness, or zero thickness, the sensitivity would fall to 0. 
     With this in mind, we see that the 10 steps for the features in the mesh surface plot indicates a 0.1 nm shift in wavelength, which indicates a 6.5 nm step in the sensor surface. The target height of the features was 15 nm. 
     In  FIG. 10A : 
     Model of SiO2 pattern created by photolithography and wet HF etch. 
     Surface sits on top of quarter wavelength layer of SiO2 (270 nm) for maximized sensitivity. 
     In  FIGS. 10B  and C: 
     View from camera at one fixed wavelength (lambda=1559.70 nm). Approximately 6× magnification so that each pixel represents approximately 10 microns square. 
     At most wavelengths the image is completely dark, and at a few, its nearly all bright. Here, at lambda=1559.70 nm, most of the surface is on its way to resonance (bright), but the 4 apparent squares in the upper right are lagging because of their shifted response. 
     In  FIG. 10D : 
     Bottom axis shows wavelength in nanometers. Vertical axis indicates relative intensity as measured by camera pixel. Previous image was taken at 1559.70 nm where we can see that the intensity was on the rise at this pixel, but not maximum. On the transition, the contrast is maximized and one is able to discern the 4 square features. 
     Here is the final mesh of shift vs. pixel position. The horizontal axes indicate pixel (this is a 40×40 section taken from the 128×128 array for clarity). The vertical axis indicates by how many steps the response was shifted relative to the bottom most corner pixel which was designated as having a 0 shift. The data was taken in steps of lambda=0.01 nm, so that the features, which appear to be 10 steps high, corresponds to a 0.1 nm shift in wavelength for their response. For this 100 μm cavity, every nanometer shift in resonant response indicates a 65 nm shift, so that these features would appear to be 6.5 nm in height. 
     Finally, the processing while still substantially real time may involve other or alternative mathematical techniques such as averaging, differentiating, integrating, curve fitting (in lieu of correlating), or correlating or otherwise comparing various frames or pixels of the multi-channel detector. 
       FIG. 11  illustrates an embodiment where the photodetector is provided on the exit mirror as an array  140  on a substrate  142 , which may be silicon. Here as throughout the optical path an anti-reflective coating  144  is provided between them. Dialectric layers  146  are at the bottom of the substrate to provide the reflectivity described above. The bottom reflector structure  148  as above comprises a substrate  150 , bottom coating  152  anti-reflective to the incident collimated beam  154 . The substrate  150  has dielectric layers  156  and a silicon dioxide layer  158  on which the array of capturing material  160  is placed. 
       FIG. 12  is an embodiment where plural testing units such as the bottom reflector structure  148  are passed under the upper reflector structure  162  of the type described above on a conveyor system  160 . The light from the upper structure  162  after passing through the cavity  164  test material and capturing material  166  is received at a detection system  168  which may be as described above. 
     The invention described herein is to be limited only in accordance with the following claims: