Patent ID: 7138255

Claim:
A method for the cyclic amplification of proteons in a biological sample comprising the steps of: a) placing an aliquot of a sample containing a proteon nucleation center (PNC) in an unheated subsample, said proteon nucleation center (PNC) comprising a metallic nanoparticle having a diameter of about 1–2 nm and containing about 40–300 metal atoms selected from the group consisting of copper, zinc, iron and alloys of copper, zinc or iron; b) heating the subsample; and c) determining the number of proteons in said sample, said proteons comprised of misfolded or partially misfolded proteins surrounding a proteon nucleation center (PNC); and d) repeating steps (a), (b) and (c) with aliquots taken from the most recently heated subsample for 1 or more cycles until the number of proteons determined to be in each heated subsample no longer increases.