Patent ID: 8586293

Claim:
A method of detecting the presence of a known antigen-bearing moiety on a cell, said method consisting the steps of: 1) antigen detection, 2) amplification of phage nucleic acid, and 3) detection of phage nucleic acid, wherein said antigen detection step consists of: a) contacting a cell with a bacteriophage expressing an antibody known to specifically bind with said antigen-bearing moiety wherein said bacteriophage comprises a nucleic acid, wherein the sequence of said nucleic acid is known and wherein at least a portion of the sequence of said nucleic acid is correlated to the phenotype of said antigen-bearing moiety; b) denaturing any of said bacteriophage specifically bound with said cell to release said nucleic acid; wherein said amplification step consists of amplifying said known nucleic acid to generate an amplified product; and wherein said detection of phage nucleic acid step consists of detecting said amplified product, wherein detecting said amplified product detects the presence and phenotype of said antigen-bearing moiety on said cell.