Analog versus digital detection of molecules

First published:

Last Edited:

Number of edits:

images/Pasted image 20221230113844.png

When detecting concentration, for example, an analog measurement will yield an intensity proportional to the amount of analytes labelled. For this type of measurements to work, one needs to integrate over time. This is how a Elisa test work, or how plate readers operate.

On the other hand, single-molecule experiments are digital in nature[@walt2013Optical Methods for Single Molecule Detection and Analysis], there either is, or there isn't a molecule to be detected. Digital pcr, and Simoa are two types of measurement that exploit a form of amplification (either replication of a nucleotide strand, or using the non-linearity of the fluorescence signal) to determine the number of times a molecule is present versus the number of times it is not, hence generating a concentration measurement out of a digital system.


Backlinks

These are the other notes that link to this one.

Comment

Share your thoughts on this note
Aquiles Carattino
Aquiles Carattino
This note you are reading is part of my digital garden. Follow the links to learn more, and remember that these notes evolve over time. After all, this website is not a blog.
© 2021 Aquiles Carattino
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
Privacy Policy