US Patent 7427491 - Polymer biosensor including sensing and transducing nanoparticles

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7427491.html

This patent from Roche Diagnostics teaches a new type of biosensor which uses a single rather than multi-layer structure formed from analyte recognition nanoparticles doped with a luminescent dye and transduction nanoparticles conjugated with an oxidative enzyme. Claim 1 reads:

1. A sensor comprising:

a polymer layer, said polymer layer comprising recognizing and transducing properties,

wherein said recognizing properties are provided by a recognizing component, said transducing properties are provided by a transducer, and said recognizing component and said transducer are contained in one or more solid or semi-solid nanoparticles,

wherein said nanoparticles have a mean diameter of between about 10 and 500 nm and wherein said nanoparticles are embedded in said polymer layer.