Patent ID: 7060507

Claim:
A method for detecting the presence of an analyte in a sample, said method comprising: (a) contacting said sample with at least one targeted molecular bar code under conditions sufficient for a specific binding pair to bind to said analyte in said sample, wherein said molecular bar code comprises: (i) a charged polymer capable of generating a reproducible signal upon passage through a nanopore; and (ii) a member of a specific binding pair, wherein said specific binding pair member is joined directly or through a linking group to said molecular bar code; (b) separating unbound targeted molecular bar code from analyte-bound targeted molecular bar code; (c) treating said analyte bound targeted molecular bar code in a manner sufficient to release said molecular bar code from said analyte-bound targeted molecular bar code and produce free molecular bar code; (e) detecting the presence of said free molecular bar code by translocating said free molecular bar code through a nanopore; and (f) relating the presence of said free molecular bar code to the presence of said analyte in said sample.