Patent ID: 6933143

Claim:
Apparatus for conducting an electrochemical enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (“ELISA”) for a bioagent, protein or nucleic acid comprising: a plurality of vessels, said plurality of vessels including: a first vessel for holding 1° antibody in liquid; a second vessel for holding a wash solution; a third vessel for holding a 2° antibody linked enzyme; a fourth vessel for holding a substrate reporter, said substrate reporter comprising o-nitrophenyl beta-D galactopyranoside; and sample holding means for holding a sample solution containing said bioagent, protein or nucleic acid; an examination cell; an electronic controller, said electronic controller including a program, a start switch and a display; a sensor for electrically detecting the level of reporter present in said examination cell at any moment of time and supplying said detected level of reporter present at any moment in time to said electronic controller; said electronic controller for motivating passage of the respective contents of each of said vessels into said examination cell when required by said program and for motivating removal of the contents of said examination cell in whole and/or in part when required by said program; said program further defining an ELISA, wherein motivation of each of said vessels is motivated in a sequence to pass contents of the respective vessel into said examination cell to perform an ELISA; said program defining said ELISA including means for motivating the contents of said fourth vessel into said examination cell and initiating assembly of the detected level of reporter present at each of a plurality of time intervals from said sensor; whereby insertion of the contents of said fourth vessel into said examination cell when said bioagent protein or nucleic acid is present in said examination cell produces an electrochemical reaction inside said examination cell to produce levels of reporter that increases with time; said program further including an analysis program for analyzing the detected level of reporter at each of said plurality of time intervals and determining the concentration of the respective bioagent, protein or nucleic acid present in said sample when said respective bioagent, protein or nucleic acid is present in said sample and displaying said concentration on said display.