ANALYSIS OF A MICRONEUTRALIZATION ASSAY USING CURVE-FITTING CONSTRAINTS

摘要

A method and apparatus are disclosed for analyzing a microneutralization assay. Specifically, an automated process can be used to read the optical density of multiple samples in a microneutralization assay and plot the results using one or more constraints. A particular constraint that can be used is a maximum optical density that is read from a sample. Using the plotted curve, a neutralization titer is determined, which is the highest dilution at which a virus is effectively blocked. Other constraints can also be used. For example, a constraint can be based on using a cell control optical density as a lower asymptote and a virus control optical density as an upper asymptote. When multiple constraints are used, analysis is performed to determine which constraint provided the most accurate curve fit.