Patent ID: 8535878

Claim:
A method of detecting a protein aggregate in a sample of interest comprising: providing a first soluble precursor molecule and a second soluble precursor molecule, wherein the first precursor molecule is attached to a first oligonucleotide, and wherein the second precursor molecule is attached to a second oligonucleotide, wherein the first soluble precursor molecule and the second soluble precursor molecule are capable of aggregating; contacting a sample suspected of containing the protein aggregate with the first soluble precursor molecule and the second soluble precursor molecule; aggregating the first soluble precursor molecule, and the second soluble precursor molecules and the protein aggregate, if present in the sample, together to form an oligonucleotide-labeled protein aggregate, wherein the first and second precursor molecules are incorporated into the labeled protein aggregate; interacting the first oligonucleotide of the first precursor molecule with the second oligonucleotide of the second precursor molecule, to form an interaction composition; and, detecting the interaction composition to detect the presence of the protein aggregate in the sample of interest; wherein the interacting comprises hybridizing the first oligonucleotide and the second oligonucleotide to a splint oligonucleotide and ligating the first oligonucleotide to the second oligonucleotide to form a ligation product.