Patent ID: 8748355

Claim:
A method for determining a blood group of a sample of blood, comprising the steps of: a) providing a sample of blood comprising red blood cells to a device which comprises a substrate comprising one or more binding agents bound thereto, wherein: said binding agents are capable of specifically binding to specific red blood cell group antigens which may be present on said red blood cells; the binding agent is antibody or antibody fragment specific for said antigen(s) to be detected; said binding agents are bound to the substrate in the form of an array; and each specific binding agent is provided in a number of dilutions and/or repeated a number of times in order to minimise any false positive or negative reactions which may occur when carrying out the method of detection; b) allowing any red blood cell antigens present on said red blood cells to specifically react with said bound binding agents; c) substantially removing or reducing any unbound red blood cells from at least an area of the substrate to which said binding agents are bound; and d) directly detecting any red blood cells bound to said binding agents in order to determine a subjects blood group, wherein detection of any red blood cells bound to said binding agents is carried out by exposing the bound red blood cells to light at a first wavelength and detecting the intrinsic fluorescence of the red blood cells at a second longer wavelength, and wherein the red blood cells are irradiated or excited at 543 nm and detection is carried out at 570-585 nm.