Micheal E Miller

US Patent:

60177152, Jan 25, 2000

Filed:

Sep 5, 1996

Appl. No.:

8/708770

Inventors:

Jeffrey L. Miller - Davis CA
Micheal J. Miller - Davis CA

International Classification:

G01N 3353
G01N 33543
G01N 33551
G01N 33546

US Classification:

435 71

Abstract:

A method for identifying a toxicant in an environmental water or soil sample comprising (a) adding to the sample an antibody known to form a complex with a toxicant suspected to be present in the sample; (b) incubating the antibody with the sample for a time and under conditions sufficient to allow complexes to form between the antibody and the toxicant; and (c) comparing the toxicity of the sample treated as in the step (b) with the toxicity of the sample prior to the step (a), whereby a reduced amount of toxicity of the treated sample compared with the untreated sample indicates the presence of the toxicant in said sample. The method described herein provides unexpected and important advantages by providing more accurate correlations between predicted and observed toxicity of a sample than previous methods.