Beacon Biotechnology’s BrightSPOT™ technology combines an extraordinarily sensitive light sensor with very bright light-producing molecules from the deep oceans to perform up to a hundred different diagnostic tests on a 10 microliter (half a drop) biological sample. The unique architecture of the BrightSPOT System allows it to test even “dirty” samples such as whole blood, without the need for time-consuming sample preparation.

The ultimate in miniaturization, the BrightSPOT System begins with a cartridge about the size of a USB thumb-drive and contains an incredibly sensitive, patented chip that analyzes up to 112 different diseases or conditions, yet is smaller than the head of a pencil eraser. The drop of blood or sample is placed into the cartridge’s port and the cartridge is docked with the BrightSPOT data communicator. Designed to utilize various detection methods (see below), if a disease biomarker is detected in a sample, light will be generated at a specific location and quickly reported. The Gaussia luciferase used to generate the light signal comes from a deep-sea copepod and produces a bright blue light estimated to be up to 10,000 times brighter than firefly luciferase, which is widely used in biological testing.

The combination of an extremely sensitive detector and an extremely bright signal make for a unique biological detection system, the BrightSPOT System. Despite its superlative signal strength and sensitivity, the BrightSPOT cartridge is inexpensive enough to discard after use. Click here to view a video of the BrightSPOT technology in action.

A smart phone platform offers a wide variety of connectivity options to send the test results where they can be immediately acted upon: from the ER to the physician, from the en-route ambulance to the ER, from the villiage nurse to the regional hospital, or from the battlefield to the command center.

The BrightSPOT System has successfully been tested for use with three major analytical methods:

Reverse Phase Immunoassay
Click here for an experimental results poster comparing the BrightSPOT System to a commercial HIV test presented at the 41st Annual Oak Ridge Conference “Frontiers In Clinical Diagnostics”, Baltimore, MD April 16–17, 2009. In this poster, the BrightSPOT System was demonstrated in a 13 minute test using whole blood and outperformed a validated ELISA for anti-HIV antibody detection requiring a plasma sample and a 3 hour procedure.

Click here for an experimental results poster comparing the BrightSPOT System to a custom RIA method for the detection of GAD65, a Type 1 Diabetes marker, presented at the 10th Annual Colorado Immunology Conference, Estes Park, CO September 8-10, 2009. In this poster, the BrightSPOT System demonstrated 16 times better sensitivity in a 1.5 hour test compared to the RIA method requiring an overnight incubation. In addition, the test was performed on the BrightSPOT System using whole blood in 11 minutes as a point-of-care test.

Sandwich Phase Immunoassay
The BrightSPOT can detect multiple target proteins in a complex mixture of proteins (cell lysate). In experiments using multiple kinases (cell messengers), the BrightSPOT system showed even greater sensitivity than the conventional 96-well plate ELISAs while using a thousand fold less capture antibody.

Molecular Testing - Nucleic Acid Proximity Assay™ (NAPA™)*
Using RNA or DNA, the BrightSPOT system can rapidly detect and quantify target complimentary strands in the sample in a scalable, no-wash format - NAPA. Beacon has demonstrated NAPA is capable of detecting as few as 0.4 attomoles of dsDNA on the the BrightSPOT system. Click here for more information on the NAPA method.

Click here for an experimental results poster regarding low level detection capability of the BrightSPOT System in a molecular assay targeting the mecA gene of MRSA. Beacon made an oral presentation of this poster to the meeting body at the 42nd Annual Oak Ridge Conference on April 23, 2010. This study demonstrates 10 zeptomole dsDNA detection and 4.5 log linearity on a single use disposable device, without amplification.
*Patent Pending