Patent ID: 8507294

Claim:
A method for detecting at least one analyte, the method comprising: providing a solution to be monitored for the at least one analyte; placing the solution to be monitored in contact with a working surface of a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) generation system, wherein the working surface comprises a first metal surface disposed on a glass surface, and wherein the first metal surface comprises a first binding substance configured to provide binding sites for the analyte; applying light to the first metal surface at a plurality of angles over a period of time; measuring a reflectance of the light at each of the plurality of angles to determine an SPR angle; monitoring changes to the SPR angle over the period of time to determine if an amount of the analyte within the solution to be monitored exceeds a predetermined threshold amount of the analyte, wherein the amount of the analyte within the solution to be monitored exceeds the predetermined threshold amount of the analyte if a detected decrease in a rate of change of the SPR angle occurs sooner than a predetermined threshold time; and refreshing the working surface of the SPR generation system by depositing a new layer of the first binding substance on the working surface of the SPR generation system, wherein the refreshing the working surface comprises: removing the solution to be monitored from contact with the working surface: depositing a second binding substance over the working surface, wherein the second binding substance is configured to irreversibly bind to the analyte that has bound to the working surface; depositing a second metal surface over the second binding substance; and depositing the first binding substance over the second metal surface.