Michelle L Robinson

US Patent:

20170192069, Jul 6, 2017

Filed:

Jan 20, 2017

Appl. No.:

15/411403

Inventors:

- Greenville NC, US
Michelle Robinson - Greenville NC, US

Assignee:

East Carolina University - Greenville NC

International Classification:

G01R 33/44
G01N 24/08
A61B 5/15
G01N 33/49

Abstract:

A method is disclosed for measuring the properties of protein and lipoprotein elements in a sample. The method includes the of placing a small volume of a sample into a NMR instrument tuned to measure a particular nucleus;, applying a series of radio frequency pulses with intermittent delays in order to measure spin-spin and/or spin-lattice relaxation time constants from the time-domain decay of the signal, without the use of chemical shifts and without converting data into the frequency domain by Fourier transform or other means, at least partially suppressing the water signal prior to the beginning of a sequence used to record relaxation time constants in the time domain, optionally utilizing relaxation contrast agents or other chemical additives to perturb the solvent water or other elements of the sample, analyzing the exponentially decaying NMR signal in the time domain using multi-exponential analysis, and comparing differences in the relaxation time constants for lipoprotein- or protein-specific elements within a single human subject, or between subjects, to assess normal and abnormal metabolism reflective of increased disease risk or active disease.

US Patent:

20140273247, Sep 18, 2014

Filed:

Mar 15, 2013

Appl. No.:

13/839420

Inventors:

- Greenville NC, US
Michelle Robinson - Greenville NC, US

Assignee:

EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY - Greenville NC

International Classification:

G01N 24/08

US Classification:

436 63, 436 71, 422 681

Abstract:

A method is disclosed for measuring the properties of protein and lipoprotein elements in a sample. The method includes the of placing a small volume of a sample into a NMR instrument tuned to measure a particular nucleus, applying a series of radiofrequency pulses with intermittent delays in order to measure spin-spin and/or spin-lattice relaxation time constants from the time-domain decay of the signal, without the use of chemical shifts and without converting data into the frequency domain by Fourier transform or other means, at least partially suppressing the water signal prior to the beginning of a sequence used to record relaxation time constants in the time domain, optionally utilizing relaxation contrast agents or other chemical additives to perturb the solvent water or other elements of the sample, analyzing the exponentially decaying NMR signal in the time domain using multi-exponential analysis, and comparing differences in the relaxation time constants for lipoprotein- or protein-specific elements within a single human subject, or between subjects, to assess normal and abnormal metabolism reflective of increased disease risk or active disease.