Patent ID: 8518658

Claim:
A method for the rapid detection and quantitation of specific viable pathogenic cells in a complex sample without requiring previous enrichment of the sample to remove contaminants, comprising: adding a sample to a detection vessel having a capture antibody and blocking buffer formed thereon; incubating the sample in the detection vessel wherein the sample is incubated in the detection vessel for about 45 minutes at about 37° C.; washing the detection vessel to remove a portion of the sample which does not contain immobilized antibody targets; adding a bioluminescence reagent comprising an ATP extracting agent and Luciferase enzyme to the immobilized antibody targets to catalyze a one-step ATP bioluminescence reaction; incubating the immobilized antibody targets and bioluminescence reagent in the detection vessel for about 5 minutes at about 23° C.; and measuring the luminescent output from the detection vessel with a luminometer; whereby the detection and quantitation can be completed in about 2 hours.