Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation

Brian M Sullivan

Denes L Zsolnay

Shi-Ping Hsu

Richard K McHugh

Robert D MacPhee, Jr

Mixing of a sample containing a suspect bioagent or antigen with 1&#xb0; recognition molecule coated magnetic beads in the preliminary stage of an enzyme linked immunoassay ('ELISA') procedure is emulated by first inserting the coated magnetic beads into a non-magnetic confinement region, generating a magnetic field B along the axis of said non-magnetic confinement region to agglomerate the coated magnetic beads into a porous mass; then percolating or otherwise forcing the sample solution through said porous mass; and withdrawing the magnetic field to de-agglomerate said coated magnetic beads. In seeping or otherwise flowing through the magnetic beads the molecules of the sample link to respective magnetic beads that are coated with recognition molecules.

Magnetic bead agglomerator for automated ELISA process

The presence of an aerosol or cloud () of a toxic substance is detected by producing an aerosol () of ligands () to the target substance in a region of sky that contains the target substance, permitting molecules the target substance to bind to the ligand, directing light () of a first frequency into the revised aerosol; and then inspecting () the revised aerosol for emissions of light of a second frequency. When light of the second frequency exists an alarm () is initiated.

Aerosol-based detection of biological agents

A primary antibody bead suspension for an enzyme-linked immunoassay ('ELISA') procedure is formed of a quantity of primary antibody coated magnetic beads () uniformly dispersed and held in suspension () by a thixotropic non-Newtonian fluid (). To remove the thixotropic non-Newtonian fluid prior to application in the ELISA procedure, a magnet () is placed against the side of the non-magnetic vessel () holding the suspension to draw the magnetic beads against the side while the thixotropic fluid is washed away by pumping (&) and replaced by a saline buffer solution.

Uniform bead dosing from a stable dispersion

An electronic controller, such as a programmed microcontroller, controls a series of pumps to automatically sequence the pumping of the individual fluids required by the ELISA procedure into a cell (or cells) necessary to produce a reporter, including the addition of o-nitrophenyl beta-D galactopyranoside substrate of the enzyme ('ONP-GP'), control the positioning of the carrier of the reporter adjacent the reporter sensor, analyze the data obtained from the reporter sensor and display the concentration of the bioagent determined from the analysis of the foregoing data. Once started, the apparatus, governed by the program, conducts the test automatically in the shortest time known to date, without the necessity for human intervention.

Automated enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay device with ONP-GP

The existence of any one of a plurality of 2 &minus;1 bioagents in a sample (1) may be determined by dividing the sample into N parts and performing separate ELISA processes (TEST 1 & TEST 2) on each of the N parts concurrently, where N is an integer greater than 1, each of the separate ELISA processes possessing the capability to identify a bioagent from a combination of possible bioagents (3), and in which the combination of possible bioagents of any one of the separate ELISA processes is different (7) from the combination of possible bioagents of any other of the separate ELISA processes.

Combinational strategy for identification of biological agents

Method and apparatus for providing a standardized measure of accuracy of each biometric device in a biometric identity authentication system having multiple users. A statistical database includes continually updated values of false acceptance rate and false rejection rate for each combination of user, biometric device and biometric device comparison score. False acceptance rate data are accumulated each time a user successfully accesses the system, by comparing the user's currently obtained biometric data with stored templates of all other users of the same device. Each user is treated as an &ldquo;impostor&rdquo; with respect to the other users, and the probability of an impostor's obtaining each possible comparison score is computed with accumulated data each time a successful access is made to the system. The statistical database also contains a false rejection rate, accumulated during a test phase, for each combination of user, biometric device and biometric device comparison score.

Biometric score normalizer

An electronic controller, such as a programmed microcontroller ( ), controls a series of pumps (P -P ) to automatically sequence the pumping of the individual fluids required by the ELISA procedure into a cell (or cells) necessary to produce a reporter, control the positioning of the carrier of the reporter ( ) adjacent the reporter sensor ( ), analyze the data obtained from the reporter sensor and display ( ) the concentration of the bioagent determined from the analysis of the foregoing data. The foregoing elements automate the ELISA procedure. Once started, the apparatus, governed by the program, conducts the test automatically without the necessity for human intervention. In accordance with a specific aspect, the foregoing components may be housed in a single package for easy portability; may be battery powered or line powered.

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Redondo Beach, CA, United States of America

Brian M Sullivan