Fixed optics photo-thermal spectroscopy reader and method of use

1. A photo-thermal spectroscopy (PTS) reader for use with a lateral flow assay (LFA) analysis comprising:

a laser source configured to emit a laser beam having a wavelength of 400 to 900 nm;

a focusing lens positioned in front of the laser source and within the path of an emitted laser beam from the laser source, configured to focus the emitted laser beam;

a galvanometer comprising a mirror rotatable in the x-y directions, to deflect the emitted laser beam, passing through the focusing lens, in an approximately downward direction and wherein the deflected laser beam results in a laser beam path adjustable in the x-y position from the downward direction;

an optical bulkhead configured to;

to encase the laser source, the focusing lens, the galvanometer and the LWIR detector to maintain alignment of the emitted laser beam and the deflected laser beam path; and

having an opening positioned at its base to insert a LFA test strip under the deflected laser beam path;

a long wavelength infrared light (LWIR) detector positioned outside the laser beam path, the LWIR detector captures thermal emission data and detects a heat signature from the LFA test strip, wherein the optical axis of the LWIR detector is perpendicular to a plane of the LFA test strip such that the entire LFA test strip is simultaneously in focus and the LWIR detector monitors substantially the entire surface of the LFA test strip simultaneously;

a microprocessor in communication with the galvanometer and the LWIR detector and configured to operate the galvanometer and record thermal data received from the LWIR detector, the microprocessor is positioned within or outside the optical bulkhead;

a power source for operating the laser source, galvanometer, LWIR detector, and microprocessor;

a passive thermal control to control temperature fluctuations of the PTS reader related to electrical operation.

2. The reader of claim 1 wherein the power source is a lithium ion battery.

3. The reader of claim 1 wherein the microprocessor is capable of wireless communication.

4. The reader of claim 1 wherein the laser source is a laser diode or diode-pumped solid-state (DPSS) laser and is configured to generate a pulsed focused laser-beam having a wavelength between approximately 400 nm and 900 nm.

5. The reader of claim 4 wherein the laser diode is a red laser configured to generate a pulse laser-beam of approximately 640 nm.

6. The reader of claim 4 wherein the focused laser beam has a diameter between approximately 50 μm to 1 mm.

7. The reader of claim 1 wherein the passive temperature control comprises heat sinks attached to electronic components of the PTS reader, cooling fins located in the sides of the optical bulk head, vented cooling fans, an operating the laser source in a pulse sequence, or a combination thereof.

8. The reader of claim 7 wherein the passive temperature control is a heat sink.

9. The reader of claim 1 further comprising a user-interface in communication with the microprocessor configured to operate the PTS reader.

10. The reader of claim 9 wherein the user-interface is further configured to display at least one operating parameter of the galvanometer, at least one operating parameter of the LWIR detector, thermal data received from the LWIR detector, or a combination thereof.

11. The reader of claim 1 wherein the LWIR camera is positioned such that the LWIR camera optic axis is perpendicular to the plane of an inserted LFA test strip and the deflected laser beam is positioned at a slight angle from normal to the LFA test strip.

12. The reader of claim 11 wherein a sensor of the LWIR camera is positioned such that an image generated from the inserted LFA test strip is aligned along a diagonal of the sensor frame.

13. A method of analyzing a lateral flow assay (LFA) test strip containing a biological sample, the method comprising;

placing a lateral flow strip inoculated with the biological sample into a base opening of a photothermal spectroscopy (PTS) reader, the PTS reader comprising;

a laser source configured to emit a laser beam;

a focusing lens positioned in front of the laser source and within the path of an emitted laser beam from the laser source configured to focus the emitted laser beam;

a galvanometer comprising a mirror rotatable in the x-y directions to deflect the emitted laser beam, passing through the focusing lens, in an approximately downward direction and wherein the deflected laser beam results in a laser beam path adjustable in the x-y position from the downward direction;

a long wavelength infrared light (LWIR) detector positioned outside the laser beam path and configured to capture thermal emission data from the LFA test strip within the PTS reader;

an optical bulkhead configured to;

to encase the laser source, the focusing lens, the galvanometer and the LWIR detector to maintain alignment of the emitted laser beam and the deflected laser beam path; and

having an opening positioned at its base to insert the LFA test strip under the deflected laser beam path;

a microprocessor in communication with the galvanometer and the LWIR detector and configured to operate the galvanometer and record thermal data received from the LWIR detector, the microprocessor is positioned within or outside the optical bulkhead;

a power source for operating the laser source, galvanometer, LWIR detector, and microprocessor;

a passive thermal control to control temperature fluctuations of the PTS reader related to electrical operation;

pulsing a focused laser beam from the laser source via the galvanometer onto the LFA test strip where the LFA test strip comprises test-lines having light absorbing bound nanoparticles to bind to targeted antibodies indicitive of a disease state in the biological sample;

detecting a heat signature, emitted by the nanoparticles, by the LWIR detector; and

adjusting the heat signature by:

segmenting the LFA test strips into more than one image frame sections, where the frame section corresponds to frame images taken with the LWIR detector;

detecting thermal data from each image frame during the pulsing step;

processing the thermal data to retain data only within the LFA test strip area and its corresponding position on the LFA test strip;

partitioning the retained data into frame sequences to create sub-groups where the sub-groups captures a temperature profile at times immediately before and after an individual laser pulse; and

subtracting last frame, captured prior to the laser pulse, from the subsequent frames so that only fast change due to the laser pulse heating is captured.

14. The method of claim 13 where the laser beam is a pulsed focused laser beam having a wavelength between approximately 400 nm and 900 nm and has a diameter between approximately 50 μm to 1 mm.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the laser source is a laser diode configured to generate a pulse laser-beam of approximately 640 nm.

16. The method of claim 14 where the laser beam path is moved across the surface of the LFA test strip by the galvanomter in an interstitial weaving pattern.

17. The method of claim 14 where the weaving pattern is restricted to areas comprising a test line.

18. The method of claim 13 where detecting the heat signature comprises; calculating thermal changes from a stream of digital image frames taken by the LWIR camera; transforming the thermal changes into line-scan data corresponding to nanoparticle distribution profile of the LFA test strip.

19. The method of claim 13 where the heat signature corresponds to the concentration of the targeted antibodies in the biological sample and is used to diagnosis the disease state.

20. The method of claim 13 where the laser beam path is non-sequential and the heat signature follows a monotonic spatial order.

21. The method of claim 13 where the heat signature is displayed as a line scan profile.

22. The method of claim 21 where the heat signature corresponds to the concentration of the targeted antibodies in the biological sample and is used to diagnose the disease state.

23. The method of claim 13 where the PTS reader further comprises a user-interface in communication with the microprocessor configured to operate the PTS reader and the user-interface displays at least one operating parameter of the galvanometer, at least one operating parameter of the LWIR detector, thermal data received from the LWIR detector, or a combination thereof.

24. The method of claim 13 where the biological sample is blood.

25. The method of claim 13 where the disease state is maleria.

26. A photo-thermal spectroscopy (PTS) reader for use with a lateral flow assay (LFA) analysis comprising:

a laser source configured to emit a laser beam having a wavelength of 400 to 900 nm;

a focusing lens positioned in front of the laser source and within the path of an emitted laser beam from the laser source, configured to focus the emitted laser beam;

a galvanometer comprising a mirror rotatable in the x-y directions, to deflect the emitted laser beam, passing through the focusing lens, in an approximately downward direction and wherein the deflected laser beam results in a laser beam path adjustable in the x-y position from the downward direction;

an optical bulkhead configured to encase the laser source, the focusing lens, the galvanometer and the LWIR detector to maintain alignment of the emitted laser beam and the deflected laser beam path, the optical bulkhead having an opening positioned at its base for inserting a LFA test strip under the deflected laser beam path;

a long wavelength infrared light (LWIR) detector array positioned outside the laser beam path and configured to detect thermal emission data from the LFA test strip;

a microprocessor in communication with the galvanometer and LWIR detector and configured to operate the galvanometer and record thermal data received from the LWIR detector as a heat signature, the microprocessor is positioned within or outside the optical bulkhead;

a power source for operating the laser source, galvanometer, LWIR detector, and microprocessor;

a passive thermal control to control temperature fluctuations of the PTS reader related to electrical operation,

wherein the microprocessor is configured to execute instructions of adjusting the heat signature by:

segmenting the LFA test strips into more than one image frame sections, where the frame section corresponds to frame images taken with the LWIR detector;

detecting thermal data from each image frame during the pulsing step;

processing the thermal data to retain data only within the LFA test strip area and its corresponding position on the LFA test strip;

partitioning the retained data into frame sequences to create sub-groups where the sub-groups captures a temperature profile at times immediately before and after an individual laser pulse; and

subtracting last frame, captured prior to the laser pulse, from the subsequent frames so that only fast change due to the laser pulse heating is captured.