Chemistry
The video animation shown above is provided for illustration / education purposes only. It is not intended to depict the exact format or function of the proprietary gold nanoparticle technology that Nanosphere employs in any of its diagnostic or for research use only products.
The detection of DNA or RNA targets using nanoparticle probe technology entails: - Extraction of genomic DNA from a clinical sample and pipetting a small aliquot into a single-use, proprietary Test Cartridge. The genomic DNA is then sheared, via a proprietary sonication process, into 300-500 base-pair fragments in order to facilitate hybridization in subsequent steps;
- In the initial hybridization step, the sheared genomic DNA (target nucleic acid) is simultaneously hybridized to;
- Single DNA base-specific capture oligonucleotides arrayed in replicate on a solid support (an array), and
- Sequence-specific mediator oligonucleotides that detect single-copy DNA regions of each target of interest.
- A washing step then follows that removes unhybridized gold nanoparticle probes;
- Silver signal amplification is then performed on the gold nanoparticle probes that are hybridized to captured DNA targets of interest;
- There then follows a washing step to remove unreacted signal amplification reagents;
- Qualitative analysis of results (slide reading) can now be performed on the Verigene® Reader.