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Identification
INT's Palladium System is a portable system that puts laboratory test capability into the field or at point-of-care.
This automated biological identification system prepares the sample for analysis. The sample preparation process cleans and concentrates the nucleic acid molecules and if needed, amplifies the material. The sample preparation process is described in the Sample Preparation section.
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The amplified strands move into a chamber that contains electronic sensors on the surface of a microchip. Electromagnets pull the target to the sensors. Molecules that match the built-in capture probes bind to the electrodes. The nucleic acid strands stretch across a gap between the electrodes and bind to a second capture probe on a separate electrode to form a bridge. |
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Catalytic metal nanoparticles bind to the target nucleic acid. These particles act as a catalyst for metal deposition along the nucleic acid. |
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A metal developer solution coats the nucleic acid in metal. After several seconds, the nucleic acid scaffolding is fully coated with metal forming a conducting wire between two electrodes. |
Electrical current is applied to one of the electrodes. If the bridge forms, the electrical current flows to the second electrode. Though small, the change in electrical conductivity can be detected with formation of a single bridge. The detection of this current is an indication of the presence of the suspected material.
The identification process has been run in the prototype fluidic systems. The identification process can distinguish closely related bacterial strains with better than 99% sensitivity and specificity at a detection limit of less then 1,000 target molecules per one milliliter sample.
The device reads which sensors are activated and reports the results to the user. The entire process will take less than twenty minutes.
The time, location and results of the tests can be reported wirelessly to a central site. The data can be presented so that disease outbreaks will be identified and monitored. This will allow for rapid response to outbreaks and the ability to efficiently deploy resources. For further information view our disease surveillance section.