Patent ID: 8099242

Claim:
A method for identifying one or more tools for physiological analysis, comprising: partitioning prostate specific antigen of a first mixture of species in at least a first phase and a second phase of a first aqueous multi-phase system, wherein the second phase is immiscible with the first phase at equilibrium; determining a relative measure of interaction between the prostate specific antigen and the first and second phases of the first system; determining a relative measure of interaction between prostate specific antigen of a second mixture of species, and the first and second phases of the first system; determining a difference in the relative measure of interaction of the prostate specific antigen of the first mixture with the first and second phases of the first system, versus the relative measure of interaction of the prostate specific antigen of the second mixture with the first and second phases of the first system; and based upon the difference, selecting the first system as a tool for determining a physiological condition of a biological system based upon determination of a relative measure of interaction between at least one species of a sample from the biological system and the first and second phases of the first system.