Patent ID: 7122384

Claim:
A method for the identification of an analyte comprising: (a) providing a light scanning source which produces light over an analytical wavelength range; (b) providing at least two substantially spherical identifiable particles, wherein each particle has an outer optical region which is substantially transparent to light over said analytical wavelength range; (c) applying at least one capture probe to the particles of (b) which binds to the outer optical region of the particle, the at least one capture probe having affinity for at least one analyte; (d) scanning each particle of (c) one or more times over a first analytical wavelength range to produce at least one first structural reference resonant light scattering spectrum for each particle of (c), said first structural reference resonant light scattering spectrum uniquely identifying each particle; (e) correlating the at least one capture probe with each identified particle of (d); (f) contacting each of the particles of (e) with a sample suspected of containing the at least one analyte where, if the analyte is present in said sample, binding occurs between the at least one capture probe and the at least one analyte; (g) scanning the particles of (f), one or more times over a second analytical wavelength range to produce at least one second binding structural resonant light scattering spectrum for each particle of (f), wherein; 1) the at least one first reference and at least one second binding structural resonant light scattering spectra may be the same or different; and 2) the at least first and second analytical wavelength ranges may be the same or different; (h) detecting binding of the at least one analyte to the at least one capture probe by comparing differences between the structural resonant light scattering spectra selected from the group consisting of; any of the at least one first reference structural resonant light scattering spectrum and any of the at least one second binding structural resonant light scattering spectrum; and spectrum, wherein comparing the differences is made relative to each uniquely identified particle (i) detecting the presence of one or more bound analytes based on the correlation made in step (e) and the at least one second binding structural resonant light scattering spectrum.