Patent ID: 8283640

Claim:
A fluorescence detection method for detecting a fluorescence intensity of fluorescence emitted when excitation light is applied to a microchip with a fluorescently-labeled biological sample fed thereto, the method comprising: detecting a fluorescence intensity of fluorescence emitted from an equivalent microchip itself for a period from the start of application of the excitation light until the fluorescence intensity sufficiently attenuates, the equivalent microchip being equivalent to the microchip; storing a temporal change of the detected fluorescence intensity; applying the excitation light to the microchip and feeding the biological sample to the microchip before a fluorescence intensity of fluorescence emitted from the microchip itself sufficiently attenuates; detecting the fluorescence intensity of the fluorescence emitted from the microchip for a period from the start of application of the excitation light to a point of time after the biological sample is fed to the microchip; and subtracting, from the fluorescence intensity detected from the microchip with the biological sample fed thereto, values of the stored temporal change of the fluorescence intensity of the fluorescence emitted from the equivalent microchip itself until the fluorescence intensity sufficiently attenuates, whereby detecting a fluorescence intensity of the fluorescence emitted from the biological sample exposed to the excitation light.