Bill, True you can detect individual genes in single cells with standard probes, but these require a large block of the gene in hand from which a probe is made. You are talking at least 5000 base pairs and more typically 20,000 to 100,000 base pair long probes. Consequently, there are only a few hundred such probes in the research community and only a few dozen developed commercially. I am talking detecting a gene with a probe element of 20 to 50 base pairs, which is small enough to make the probe component synthetically from published sequences. This is joined to my other modular components to give signaling equivalent to the standard probes mentioned above. This opens the door to targeting unknown genes where only a small sequence fragment is available, to detecting small pre cancerous mutations in individual cells (before a detectable tumor is present), to detecting one AIDS virus in several ml of blood, etc.... New potentialities that are currently impossible.
Regards, David S.
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