Provided herein are systems, devices and methods for the rapid and accurate measurement of analyte particles binding-induced aggregation of reporter particles. In the presence of analyte particles of interest, reporter particles form aggregates which increase in mean particle size as the concentration of analyte increases. From analysis of the mean particle size, determined from sample frames, the presence and/or concentration of analyte can be determined.

An object of the present invention is to provide a novel preservative solution for a heme protein and a method for stabilizing a heme protein, which are effective against denaturation or degradation of a heme protein, and the present invention specifically relates to a preservative solution for a heme protein comprising a disulfonic acid or a salt thereof, and a method for stabilizing a heme protein, which involves bringing a disulfonic acid or a salt thereof into coexistence in a sample comprising a heme protein.

Methods, devices, and systems for analyte analysis using a nanopore are disclosed. The methods, devices, and systems utilize a first and a second binding member that each specifically bind to an analyte in a biological sample. The method further includes detecting and/or counting a cleavable tag attached to the second binding member and correlating the presence and/or the number of tags to presence and/or concentration of the analyte. Certain aspects of the methods do not involve a tag, rather the second binding member may be directly detected/quantitated. The detecting and/or counting may be performed by translocating the tag/second binding member through a nanopore. Devices and systems that are programmed to carry out the disclosed methods are also provided. Also provided herein are instruments that are programmed to operate a cartridge that includes an array of electrodes for actuating a droplet and further includes an electrochemical species sensing region. The instrument may be used to analyse a sample in a cartridge that includes an array of electrodes for actuating a droplet and further includes a nanopore layer for detecting translocation of a tag/second binding member through nanopore. An instrument configured to operate a first cartridge that includes an array of electrodes for actuating a droplet and further includes an electrochemical species sensing region and a second cartridge that includes an array of electrodes for actuating a droplet and further includes a nanopore layer for detecting translocation of a tag/second binding member through nanopore is disclosed. An instrument configured to operate a cartridge that includes an array of electrodes for actuating a droplet, an electrochemical species sensing region, and a nanopore layer for detecting translocation of a tag/second binding member through nanopore is disclosed.

A highly-reliable absorbance measuring device that enables highly-accurate measurement of absorbance, and a method thereof are provided. A liquid containing unit that can contain a chemical substance solution to be measured, a nozzle that communicates with a suction/discharge mechanism that sucks/discharges gas, a flow tube that includes a mouth part, which can be inserted into the liquid containing unit, at a lower end and that is detachably attached to the nozzle at an upper end, an emitting end that can emit measurement light, a light receiving end that can receive the light emitted from the emitting end, and a control unit are included. The control unit is configured to suck a prescribed amount of the chemical substance solution into the flow tube, and to lead absorbance on the basis of intensity of transmitted light acquired by emission of measurement light in a vertical direction into the flow tube.

This invention provides a stool specimen test device comprising: a suction port of a sample comprising a stool suspension; a sampling verification section that detect a specimen without the collected stool sample based on the absorbance of the stool suspension measured at the first wavelength; and a sample measurement section that performs measurement based on the absorbance measured at the second wavelength. This invention can improve the test accuracy by detecting a specimen without the collected stool sample in the stool specimen test.

A sample measurement device including: a dispensing mechanism that includes a nozzle capable of penetrating through a plug body that closes a sample container and of aspirating and discharging a sample housed in the sample container, and that dispenses the sample into a disposable container from the sample container through the nozzle; a cleaning mechanism that cleans the nozzle; and a first measurement section that performs measurement for an immunological test of the sample dispensed by the dispensing mechanism.

The systems and methods contained herein are directed toward automated analysis of agglutination reactions to determine properties of materials, including viruses and vaccines thereto. Advanced digital imaging and processing techniques are used to determine the presence or absence of viruses or antibodies within a fluid sample. The systems and methods are versatile, and can be used to determine specific properties of biomaterials and viruses, such as titer value, concentration, genotype, phenotype, serotype, vaccine efficacy, viral resistance and other properties of relevance in the medical, research and development fields. Also provided are systems and methods of standardization, repeatability, and data storage and transmittal to reduce errors and subjectivity inherent to conventional assays characterized by human readers.

According to one embodiment, a method of detecting or quantifying a detection target in a specimen includes: irradiating a reaction mixture containing composite particles and the specimen with light to promote binding between the composite particles and the detection target; and performing measurement on the reaction mixture irradiated with the light to detect or quantify the detection target. The composite particles each include a carrier particle including two or more regions having different physical properties on a surface, and an affinity substance carried on the carrier particle and having affinity to the detection target. The light can be absorbed by at least one of the two or more regions.

Disclosed is a specimen measurement method for measuring platelet aggregation of a specimen, and the specimen measurement method includes: automatically preparing a diluted reagent solution that contains a platelet-aggregating reagent diluted with a diluent; preparing a measurement sample that contains a predetermined concentration of the platelet-aggregating reagent, from the diluted reagent solution and the specimen; and performing optical measurement of the measurement sample.

Hand-held optical thromboelastographic sensor and method of using the same for simultaneous assessment of multiple parameters of blood coagulation at a point-of-care. The sensor includes an optical system registering laser speckle intensities associated with portions of a blood sample delivered through a fluid switch to analysis chambers of a cartridge of the sensor, and data-processing circuitry programmed to derive the multiple parameters from speckle intensity. The circuitry may be part of a mobile device configured to operate without communication with a central server and/or data storage.