Patent ID: 7790471

Claim:
A method for performing a lateral flow assay, the method comprising: providing a sampling membrane with a receiving region, a collection region and a detection region; defining a barrier between the collection region and the detection region so that the collection region has a known saturation volume that is less than about 100 microliters; supplying a test sample to a receiving region of the membrane and saturating the collection region with the test sample so that a known volume of the test sample is contained in the collection region that corresponds to the known saturation volume of the collection region; removing the barrier between the collection region and detection region of the membrane; supplying a diluent to the collection region of the membrane to facilitate flow of the test sample from the collection region to the detection region of the membrane; and defining the collection region by separating the collection region from the receiving region prior to supplying the diluent to the collection region.