Patent ID: 7844403

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of correcting for temperature step changes in a data set for a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) growth curve having a baseline portion and a growth portion, the method comprising the steps, implemented in a computer system having a processor, of: receiving a data set for a PCR growth curve, wherein said data set includes a plurality of data points for a kinetic Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) process, each data point having a pair of coordinate values (x,y), wherein x represents the cycle number and y represents an accumulation of amplified polynucleotide; calculating a linear approximation to a first portion of the curve, said first portion including data points in the data set including cycle numbers less than or equal to a cycle number (CAC) at which an annealing temperature change occurs in the PCR process; estimating a first y value for a first x value using the linear approximation of the first portion of the curve; calculating an approximation to a second portion of the curve by applying a Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) regression process to a second portion of the data set and a double sigmoid function to determine parameters of the function, said second portion of the data set including data points having cycle numbers greater than the CAC; estimating a second y value for the first x value using the approximation calculated for the second portion of the curve; determining a difference between the first and second y values; and subtracting off the difference from each y value for the data points corresponding to the first portion of the curve to produce a modified data set.