US 12,216,053 B1
System and methods for detecting pathogens using multi-wavelength sensing
Miro Yakov Shverdin, Mountain View, CA (US); Annapurna Karicherla, Cupertino, CA (US); and Carla Alejandra Gimenez, Buenos Aires (AR)
Assigned to Amazon Technologies, Inc., Seattle, WA (US)
Filed by Amazon Technologies, Inc., Seattle, WA (US)
Filed on Jun. 22, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/354,710.
Int. Cl. G01N 1/00 (2006.01); C12Q 1/70 (2006.01); G01N 21/64 (2006.01)
CPC G01N 21/6428 (2013.01) [C12Q 1/70 (2013.01); G01N 2021/6439 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for testing a biological sample for each of two or more target pathogens, the system comprising:
a cartridge comprising a detection cycle well and a fluorescence reading chamber, wherein the cartridge is configured to receive a biological sample, wherein the detection cycle well comprises respective Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) enzymes for each of the two or more target pathogens, and wherein the respective CRISPR enzymes are tagged with respective spectrally unique fluorescent probes;
an analysis device comprising a broadband light source and a spectral sensor configured to detect light wavelengths comprising a respective light wavelength corresponding to each of the spectrally unique fluorescent probes; and
at least one controller configured to:
control operation of the cartridge to combine a portion of the biological sample with the CRISPR enzymes to form a detection cycle liquid within the detection cycle well;
control operation of the cartridge to transfer a portion of the detection cycle liquid from the detection cycle well to the fluorescence reading chamber;
control operation of the broadband light source to emit a broadband fluorescence excitation light onto the detection cycle liquid in the fluorescence reading chamber;
receive a fluorescence light emission detection signal generated by the spectral sensor in response to a fluorescence light emitted by the detection cycle liquid in the fluorescence reading chamber; and
process the fluorescence light emission detection signal to generate detection data indicative of presence or absence of each of the two or more target pathogens in the biological sample.