The firefly luciferase reaction is the basis for the quantification of ATP via the emission of light which can be directly related to the amount of ATP present. ATP is a ubiquitous biochemical related to many metabolic biochemicals, i.e., sugars, amino acids, hormones, vitamins, enzymes, etc. The objective of this study is to assess the feasibility of developing a small, relatively inexpensive CCD-based analyzer for the direct detection and quantification of ATP and more importantly for the quantification of many of the biochemicals directly related to ATP utilization via phosphorylation and de-phosphorylation reactions catalyzed by a wide variety of enzymes. The instrument would be superior to a PMT based luminometer in that it could analyze an inexpensive, disposable multi--channel biosensor card simultaneously for a wide variety of clinically related analytes necessary for a correct medical diagnosis, i.e., biosensor cards for a family of tumor markers, cardiac damage markers, etc. A bench top prototype will be constructed and evaluated relative to well quantified luminescence standards to confirm the efficacy of a signal modeling equation. Evaluation will then be extended to a multi-channel biosensor card for ATP and in Phase II to a multi-channel, multi-parameter biosensor card.
A need exists for a small, low cost CCD camera based monitoring device which can quantify a variety of analytes on a single, disposable multi-- channel biosensor platform. Each biosensor platform would contain a panel of analytes which were clinically related to a proper diagnosis, i.e., tumor marker panel, cardiac damage marker panel, essential amino acid panel, errors of metabolism marker panel are examples of data profiles that could improve diagnoses.
