The present disclosure provides apparatuses and methods for analyzing the presence of a target analyte. The apparatuses and methods of the present disclosure can be operated in a multiplexed format to perform various assays of clinical significance.

The optical interrogation technique can use an optical prism having two opposite sides including a sample side and a refraction side, the sample side having a plurality of interrogation areas; a source assembly generating a collimated field of illumination directed towards the refraction side; a screen disposed in a screen plane intersecting the field of illumination and shielding the refraction side from the field of illumination, the screen having an aperture allowing a portion of the field of illumination to reach and be refracted by the refraction side, be totally internally reflected at one of said interrogation areas of the sample side, thereby generating a signal, the signal refracted back through the aperture, the screen being movable within the screen plane to shift the aperture and expose different portions of the field of illumination to corresponding ones of the interrogation areas.

A biological sensing apparatus includes an optical waveguide substrate, a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) layer, and a lossy mode resonance (LMR) layer. The optical waveguide substrate includes a light input end and a light output end opposite to each other, and a biological sensing area is formed on one surface of the optical waveguide substrate between the light input end and the light output end. The SPR layer includes a metal layer and a plurality of biological probes. The metal layer is arranged on part of the biological sensing area, and the plurality of biological probes are evenly arranged on the metal layer. The LMR layer is arranged on part of the biological sensing area, and the LMR layer and the SPR layer are not overlapped. The present disclosure further includes a biological sensing system and a method of using the same.

The present disclosure provides a method for determining of aggregates comprising one or more macromolecules, in a first sample potentially comprising aggregates of the macromolecule(s), comprising the steps of (a) contacting a first sample with a sensing surface of an interaction analysis sensor, said sensing surface having immobilised thereon a ligand comprising a hydrophobic group, which is capable of increased binding interaction with aggregates of macromolecule(s) compared to non-aggregated macromolecule(s); (b) determining at least one parameter for the interaction of the first sample with the sensing surface; (c) Performing at least one of steps (i) and (ii): (i) Comparing the at least one parameter determined in step (b) with the corresponding parameter(s) determined for at least one additional sample potentially comprising aggregates of the macromolecule(s); (ii) determining at least one parameter related to aggregate(s) of the macromolecule(s); and (d) determining the presence, fraction, concentration, and/or amount of macromolecule(s) in the form of aggregate(s) in the first sample. The present disclosure also relates to uses of said method and an interaction analysis sensor for use in said method, as well as an interaction analysis sensor and a method for determining of the stability of a macromolecule.

An optical sensor system, comprising refractory plasmonic elements that can withstand temperatures exceeding 2500° C. in chemically aggressive and harsh environments that impose stress, strain and vibrations. A plasmonic metamaterial or metasurface, engineered to have a specific spectral and angular response, exhibits optical reflection characteristics that are altered by varying physical environmental conditions including but not limited to temperature, surface chemistry or elastic stress, strain and other types of mechanical load. The metamaterial or metasurface comprises a set of ultra-thin structured layers with a total thickness of less than tens of microns that can be deployed onto surfaces of devices operating in harsh environmental conditions. The top interface of the metamaterial or metasurface is illuminated with a light source, either through free space or via an optical fiber, and the reflected signal is detected employing remote detectors.

A thin aluminum film substrate and microarrays thereof including a substrate and a thin film of aluminum deposited on the substrate for surface plasmon resonance analysis. Methods of forming the thin aluminum film substrate and microarrays including providing a substrate, using electron-beam physical vapor deposition (EBPVD) to deposit a thin film of Al on a surface of the substrate. Also disclosed are methods of detecting an analyte, wherein a functionalized surface of the thin aluminum film includes a biomolecule and the methods include applying a sample including the analyte to the thin aluminum film substrate, and using surface plasmon resonance (SPR) spectroscopy to detect molecular interactions between the biomolecule and the analyte at a surface of the thin aluminum film substrate. In some examples, an unmodified Al film with an Al.sub.2O.sub.3 layer is effective in enriching phosphorylated peptides. In some examples, a coating of an ionic polymer is used to analyze charged-based interactions of biomolecules.

A device includes capture sites; an imaging system for imaging the capture sites; a memory that stores a map of the capture sites including capture site shapes having respective predefined positions in the map and to be placed on an image of the capture sites, at a predefined position and in a predefined orientation so that the capture site shapes respectively indicate the areas of the image occupied by the capture sites; and a module for detecting an odor from an image of the capture sites and the map. The device includes an update module for obtaining an image of the capture sites, for determining, in the image, real areas respectively occupied by the capture sites, for determining, on the basis of the real areas, a correction of the position and/or of the orientation of the overlay of the map; and for updating the position and/or orientation of the overlay.

A monitoring system and method are presented for use in monitoring a target. The monitoring system comprises: an input utility for receiving input data comprising measured data indicative of optical response of the target measured under predetermined conditions and comprising phase data indicative of a two-dimensional profile of full phase of the optical response of the target in a predetermined two-dimensional parametric space including a two-dimensional range in which said target exhibits phase singularity; an analyzer module for processing said measured data and extracting at least one phase singularity signature of the target characterizing the target status, the phase singularity signature being formed by a number N of phase singularity points, each corresponding to a condition that the physical phase continuously accumulates a nonzero integer multiple m of 2π around said point.

A measurement system for obtaining information about a sample comprises an excitation-beam source configured for irradiating the sample with an excitation-beam. The measurement system comprises a probe unit configured for exposing the sample to a probing radiation or a probing field, and a detection unit configured for obtaining a first information about an interaction of the probing radiation or the probing field with the sample, if a plasmon or plasmon-polariton was excited by the excitation-beam, and obtaining a second information about an interaction of the probing radiation of the probing field with the sample, if a plasmon or plasmon-polariton was not excited by the excitation-beam.

A fiber-optic sensing apparatus is provided, including an outer sleeve, an optical fiber sensor arranged within the outer sleeve, and a filling medium. The optical fiber sensor is capable of detecting a change of a refractive index or a change of surface plasmon waves over an outer surface of the outer sleeve. The filling medium may have a matching refractive index with the outer sleeve and with the optical fiber sensor. The outer sleeve may be exposed directly to the outside medium, or may be coated with at least one functional film layer such as a surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-active base film layer, or a reactive film layer that is reactive to a target molecule in the outside medium.