Patent ID: 8194514

Claim:
A method for assessing results of a bioassay between probe biomolecules and target biomolecules using a conventional optical disc drive, the method comprising: bonding the probe biomolecules to a polycarbonate (PC) surface of an optical disc having digital data comprising error-detection redundancies recorded thereon; introducing the target biomolecules to the PC surface of the optical disc in a vicinity of the bonded probe biomolecules; processing the bioassay to alter a manner in which a read light from the optical disc drive interacts optically with the optical disc in a vicinity of positive bioassay results where the target biomolecules have bonded to the probe biomolecules; reading the digital data from the optical disc using the optical drive and using the error-detection redundancies to detect errors in the digital data read by the optical drive; mapping the detected errors to corresponding locations on the optical disc; and determining that positive bioassay results have occurred at the locations of the detected errors.