Claims
- 1. A medium for retention of chemical species for use in a hand-held device for the relatively rapid detection of the presence of an analyte of interest in a sample, wherein the medium is comprised of a porous, absorbent polymeric material.
- 2. The medium of claim 1, wherein the polymeric material has a density of from about 0.05 g/cc to about 0.1 g/cc, an average pore size of from about 0.2 mm to about 1 mm, a pore size range of from about 0.004 to about 1.2 mm, and an absorptive capacity of from about 5 g water/g of polymeric material to about 15 g water/g or polymeric material.
- 3. The medium of claim 1, wherein the polymeric material is selected from the group consisting of polyvinyl alcohol and polyvinyl acetal.
- 4. The medium of claim 1, wherein the medium functions as a swab for the sampling of the analyte of interest on a solid surface.
- 5. The medium of claim 3, wherein the polymeric material has a density of approximately 0.1 g/cc, an average pore size of 0.2 mm, a pore size range of about 0.004 to about 0.4 mm, and an absorptive capacity of about 7 to about 10 g water/g of polymeric material.
- 6. The medium of claim 3, wherein the medium is in a cylindrical shape.
- 7. The swab of claim 6, wherein the height of the cylindrical swab is less than the diameter of the swab.
- 8. The medium of claim 3, wherein at least a portion of a surface of the medium is covered with an effective amount of an adhesive substance.
- 9. The medium of claim 1, wherein the medium functions as a reagent disc for loading of a reactant system.
- 10. The medium of claim 9, wherein the polymeric material has a density of about 0.05 g/cc; an average pore size of from 0.9 to 1 mm; a pore size range of about 0.2 mm to about 1.2 mm; and an absorptive capacity of approximately 15 g of water/g of polymeric material.
- 11. The medium of claim 9, wherein the reactant system is loaded onto the reactant disc by contacting a solution of the reactant system in an appropriate solvent onto the polymeric material of which the disc is comprised and removing the solvent from the polymeric material.
- 12. The medium of claim 11, wherein the solvent is removed from the polymeric material by a method selected from the group consisting of evaporation, sublimation, freeze-drying or lyophilization.
- 13. The medium of claim 9, wherein the reactant system is capable of undergoing a reaction with adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to generate chemiluminescence as a product of the reaction.
- 14. The medium of claim 9, wherein the reactant system comprises a luciferase/luciferin system.
- 15. The medium of claim 14, wherein the reactant system further comprises trehalose in an amount effective to increase the luminescence emission by a factor of from about 25 to about 100%.
- 16. The medium of claim 14, wherein the reactant system comprises trehalose in an amount effective to increase the luminescence emission by more than 100%.
PRIOR APPLICATION
[0001] I claim priority benefits under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/193,519 filed Mar. 31, 2000.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60193519 |
Mar 2000 |
US |