Patent ID: 7939252

Claim:
A method of measuring an amount of target ribonucleic acid (RNA), comprising a. incubating an RNA sample with one or more fluorescently labeled RNA probes complementary to one or more respective target RNA sequences in the RNA sample under conditions whereby the one or more probes can hybridize to the one or more respective target RNAs to form one or more RNA:fluorescently labeled probe hybrids; b. passing the RNA sample comprising the one or more RNA:fluorescently labeled probe hybrids through a capillary electrophoresis system; c. detecting and recording fluorescence as one or more peaks as the RNA sample comprising the one or more RNA:fluorescently labeled probe hybrids passes through a detection window, wherein each of the one or more RNA:fluorescently labeled probe hybrids generates its own peak; and d. determining an area under each peak for the respective RNA:fluorescently labeled probe hybrid whereby the area under each peak corresponds to the amount of respective target RNA in the RNA sample, wherein no target RNA is reverse transcribed during steps (a)-(d).