Patent ID: 7888108

Claim:
A method of detecting or quantitating a target nucleic acid sequence in a liquid sample, comprising: pre-loading a first unlabeled oligonucleotide into a chamber; pre-loading a second unlabeled oligonucleotide into the chamber; introducing a liquid sample comprising a target nucleic acid sequence into the chamber, after the pre-loading of the first unlabeled oligonucleotide and of the second unlabeled oligonucleotide; mixing the liquid sample with the first unlabeled oligonucleotide and the second unlabeled oligonucleotide, in the chamber, such that the first unlabeled oligonucleotide and the second unlabeled oligonucleotide are not immobilized in the chamber; reacting the target nucleic acid sequence with both the first unlabeled oligonucleotide and the second unlabeled oligonucleotide in the chamber, to form a reaction product in the chamber; reacting the reaction product, in the chamber, with a non-immobilized optically detectable detection reagent that is specific for the target nucleic acid sequence, wherein the non-immobilized optically detectable detection reagent is pre-loaded into the chamber before the introducing of the sample; and detecting the non-immobilized optically detectable detection reagent to detect or quantitate the target nucleic acid sequence.