	US 11,970,737 B2
	Digital counting of individual molecules by stochastic attachment of diverse labels
Stephen P. A. Fodor, Palo Alto, CA (US); and Glenn K. Fu, Dublin, CA (US)
Assigned to Becton, Dickinson and Company, Franklin Lakes, NJ (US)
Filed by Becton, Dickinson and Company, Franklin Lakes, NJ (US)
Filed on Aug. 26, 2019, as Appl. No. 16/551,638.
Application 16/551,638 is a continuation of application No. 16/219,553, filed on Dec. 13, 2018, granted, now 10,392,661.
Application 16/219,553 is a continuation of application No. 16/038,832, filed on Jul. 18, 2018, granted, now 10,202,646, issued on Feb. 12, 2019.
Application 16/038,832 is a continuation of application No. 15/224,460, filed on Jul. 29, 2016, granted, now 10,047,394, issued on Aug. 14, 2018.
Application 15/224,460 is a continuation of application No. 14/281,706, filed on May 19, 2014, granted, now 9,816,137, issued on Nov. 14, 2017.
Application 14/281,706 is a continuation of application No. 12/969,581, filed on Dec. 15, 2010, granted, now 8,835,358, issued on Sep. 16, 2014.
Claims priority of provisional application 61/286,768, filed on Dec. 15, 2009.
Prior Publication US 2020/0224266 A1, Jul. 16, 2020
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G16B 25/00 (2019.01); C12N 15/10 (2006.01); C12Q 1/6809 (2018.01); C12Q 1/6837 (2018.01); C12Q 1/6851 (2018.01); C12Q 1/686 (2018.01); C12Q 1/6869 (2018.01); C12Q 1/6874 (2018.01); C12Q 1/6876 (2018.01); G16B 25/10 (2019.01); G16B 25/20 (2019.01); G16B 30/00 (2019.01)

CPC C12Q 1/6874 (2013.01) [C12N 15/1065 (2013.01); C12Q 1/6809 (2013.01); C12Q 1/6837 (2013.01); C12Q 1/6851 (2013.01); C12Q 1/686 (2013.01); C12Q 1/6869 (2013.01); C12Q 1/6876 (2013.01); G16B 25/00 (2019.02); G16B 25/20 (2019.02); G16B 30/00 (2019.02); G16B 25/10 (2019.02)]

23 Claims

1. A method, comprising:

(a) providing a sample obtained from a subject comprising a first target molecule and a second target molecule;

(b) attaching to each of a plurality of occurrences of the first target molecule and the second target molecule in the sample a label sequence randomly selected from a set of diverse label sequences, wherein the set comprises labels with m different label sequences, thereby generating for each occurrence of the first target molecule and the second target molecule a new first molecule and a new second molecule, respectively,

wherein each new first molecule and new second molecule comprises a copy of the first target molecule and a copy of the second target molecule, respectively, and a label,

wherein n₁and n₂are the numbers of the one or more occurrences of the first target molecule and the second target molecule, respectively, in the sample, and

wherein the ratio of the greater of n₁and n₂is smaller than 0.2; and

(c) detecting the new first molecules and the new second molecules by detecting the label sequences present on the new first molecules and the new second molecules, wherein the numbers of the new first molecules and the new second molecules detected indicate the numbers of the one or more occurrences of the first molecule and the second molecule, respectively, in the sample.