We developed this technology almost 10 years ago. It was developed after a key experiment was carried out by David Rissin, who was a PhD candidate in my laboratory at the time.
At the time, we were working with microwell arrays for a different project. At a lab meeting I posed the question: “How many molecules of a fluorescent molecule would it take to bring the concentration in one of these very tiny microwells to a level that would be easily detectable?” We performed the calculation and it turned out to be about 100 molecules of a fluorescent dye.
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