Patent ID: 7910064

Claim:
A method of detecting an analyte of interest, comprising: providing a nanowire having a sample exposure region, the sample exposure region comprising at least one binding molecule for an analyte of interest disposed thereon, the nanowire being operably coupled to an electrical parameter detector; contacting the sample exposure region with a sample material suspected of containing the analyte of interest for a first period of time to allow any analyte of interest in the sample material to associate with the sample exposure region of the nanowire; treating the nanowire to rapidly remove at least a portion of the analyte of interest from association with the sample exposure region; and monitoring the electrical parameter of the nanowire during at least the treating step and the removal of at least a portion of the analyte to detect a change in the electrical parameter of the nanowire in response to the treating step, the change in the electrical parameter being indicative of a presence or amount of the analyte of interest bound to the sample exposure region from the sample material.