Patent ID: 8828661

Claim:
An assay method for detection of a plurality of nucleic acid or protein targets in a sample comprising (a) combining target-specific probes with the sample under conditions in which at least 25 target-specific probes each bind a different specific target in the sample, if the specific target is present, wherein each said target-specific probe comprises a common nucleic acid tag sequence and a unique combination of a first primer binding site and a second primer binding site flanking the nucleic acid tag sequence, wherein at least two of said target-specific probes do not have the same first primer binding sites and at least two of said target-specific probes do not have the same second primer binding sites, and wherein the target-specific probe forms a target-specific probe product associated with the target if the target is present in the sample, thereby associating the tag with the target by forming a target-specific probe product associated with the target; (b) distributing aliquots of the sample to separate compartments of a microfluidic device and segregating the aliquots from each other; (c) querying each said aliquot for the presence or absence of a different target-specific probe product, wherein said querying comprises amplifying the nucleic acid tag sequence using a first primer that binds the first primer binding site and a second primer that binds the second primer binding site; and detecting the presence or absence of the common nucleic acid tag sequence using a tag-detecting probe.