Patent ID: 7738094

Claim:
A disposable blood collection cuvette for optical analysis of non-red blood cells, the cuvette comprising: a mixing chamber having an inlet for accepting a sample of whole blood, the mixing chamber further comprising a dried reagent capable of dissolving on contact with the whole blood sample and containing a probe composition that comprises a plurality of analyte-specific probes, each capable of binding specifically to a different cellular analyte of a non-red blood cell, wherein each probe is characterized by (a) a binding compound specific for a cellular analyte under binding conditions, and (b) attached to the binding compound an optical label, wherein the optical label of each different probe has a different excitation band and the optical labels of all probes emit optical signals within the same wavelength range; and a sample chamber fluidly connected to the mixing chamber so that a sample in the mixing chamber is transferred to the sample chamber by capillary action, the sample chamber having an optically transmissive wall and a dimension perpendicular to said wall substantially equivalent to the diameter of a non-red blood cell so that optical signals generated by probes attached to cellular analytes thereof are not obstructed by red blood cells of the sample.