Japan Science and Technology Agency

Yoshihiro Minagawa

Hiroyuki Noji

Kazuhito Tabata

Takao Ono

There is provided a method of detecting a microscopic body stored in a plurality of receptacles formed separately from each other. The method, which is provided as a technique for enclosing a to-be-detected substance such as nucleic acid, protein, virus, and cell by means of a simple operation in droplets of an extremely small volume and enabling highly sensitive detection, includes the steps of (1) introducing a solvent into a space between a lower layer part in which the receptacles are formed and an upper layer part facing a surface of the lower layer part in which surface the receptacles are formed, wherein the solvent contains the microscopic body; (2) introducing gas into the space to form a droplet of the solvent in the receptacles, wherein the droplet contains the microscopic body; and (3) detecting the microscopic body present in the droplet optically, electrically, and/or magnetically.

Microscopic body detection method and microscopic body detection device

Provided is a technique that can be used to detect a pathogenic microorganism such as influenza virus with high sensitivity, and specifically, a method for detecting a reaction product, including reacting an enzyme with a substance serving as a substrate for a reaction involving the enzyme in a hydrophilic solvent that is in interfacial contact with a hydrophobic solvent, wherein the reaction product is produced directly and released from the substrate, and wherein the hydrophilic solvent contains at least one of a buffering substance or trimethylamine oxide (TMAO).

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Tokyo, Japan

Yoshihiro Minagawa