Patent ID: 8822167

Claim:
A method of detecting at least two analytes of different analyte types from a small-volume biological sample within a short period of time, said method comprising: Placing a cartridge in a reader assembly, said cartridge comprising a plurality of movable assay units, a plurality of movable reagent units, and a sample collection unit containing a small-volume biological sample, wherein at least one of said assay units and at least one of said reagent units are movable relative to each other, wherein individual movable reagent units are calibrated with reference to corresponding movable assay units before the movable reagent units are assembled on the cartridge, and wherein said reader assembly comprises a) a fluid transfer device, and b) a detection assembly configured to detect signals indicative of the presence of, or absence of, analytes of at least two different analyte types; Transferring a first portion of said biological sample to a first movable assay unit, and transferring a second portion of said biological sample to a second movable assay unit, effective to divide said biological sample into at least a first portion and a second portion at an initial time; Detecting a signal indicative of the presence of, or absence of, a first analyte of a first analyte type in said first portion of the biological sample in the first movable assay unit by a first time; and Detecting a signal indicative of the presence of, or absence of, a second analyte of a second analyte type in said second portion of the biological sample in the second movable assay unit by a second time; Wherein the period of time between said initial time and the later of said first time and of said second time comprises a short period of time; Whereby analytes of at least two different analyte types are detected from a small-volume biological sample within a short period of time.