Patent ID: 7244622

Claim:
A method, comprising: introducing a liquid sample comprising a target nucleic acid sequence through a channel in a substrate and into a chamber in the substrate which is in fluid communication with the channel, the chamber being pre-loaded with detection reagents, the detection reagents comprising a first unlabeled oligonucleotide, a second unlabeled oligonucleotide, and a fluorescently-labeled oligonucleotide; reacting the target nucleic acid sequence with both the first unlabeled oligonucleotide and the second unlabeled oligonucleotide, under conditions effective to selectively bind each of the first unlabeled oligonucleotide and the second unlabeled oligonucleotide to the target nucleic acid sequence; and detecting fluorescence produced in the chamber, wherein introducing the liquid sample into a chamber comprises introducing the liquid sample into a sample-distribution network comprising (i) a sample inlet, (ii) two or more detection chambers, and (iii) a channel providing respective dead-end fluid connections between each of the chambers and the sample inlet.