The Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) is a gold standard analytical method for the detection of various compounds, and is the most commonly used immunoassay technique for labs and research.
Immunoassay tests are biochemical/bioanalytical methods that detect an “analyte” and quantify its concentration in a complex mixture of chemicals or biological fluids (e.g. serum or urine). Analytes can be a micro- or macromolecule (e.g. protein, nucleic acid, polysaccharide or lipid) or chemical substances (e.g. hormones, drugs).
A lateral flow immunoassay is an easy-to-use and inexpensive paper-based device used to detect the presence of specific protein in fluid. The basic immunoassay works by taking advantage of the lock-and-key specificity of antibodies and their corresponding antigens. In the case of a lateral flow immunoassay the capture antibodies are printed onto a paper strip and the liquid moves across it via capillary action. The presence of the target antigen is detected by a colorimetric change on the strip of paper, which also makes the lateral flow assay an example of immunochromatography. The principle component of most immunochromatography devices is usually gold nanoparticles or an enzyme-conjugated bead; the gold nanoparticles have a red hue, and enzyme conjugated beads produce a colorful product when a substrate is introduced into the system. In both instances a positive test result is visible to the naked eye. Most lateral flow immunoassays are qualitative tests, which means that a color change on the test line indicates a positive result while the lack of color indicates a negative result. There is a significant amount of research invested in the development of quantitative lateral flow immunoassays in which numerical analysis of protein concentration is possible.
Fluorescent nanoparticle is a general term that many people assume means any nanoscale material that produces fluorescence upon excitation with incident light. However, there is actually a thing called a conjugated polymer nanoparticle (CPN) that is very different from the fluorescent dyes (think Alexa fluorophores) that many of us are used to. These CPNs produce higher intensity fluorescence than dyes (up to 1000x brighter!), are stable and much less susceptible to quenching, and don’t contain toxic cadmium like quantum dots. These conjugated polymer fluorescent nanoparticles will likely be at the forefront of future bioimaging methods.
The concept of an antigen and antibody pair is central to modern medicine and biotechnology. These proteins match like a lock and key, with equisite specificity. The interactions are non-covalent, but have equilibrium constants ranging from 105 to 1012 M-1 Antibodies and antigens are proteins: polypeptide chains of amino acids. The IgG antibody is composed of four polypeptide chains, two heavy and two light, organized into a ‘Y’ shape. The base of the Y is called the Fc region, while the two tips are known as the Fab region.
Chemiluminescent immunoassays (CLIAs) are excellent assays for high-throughput, low analyte concentration and time sensitive testing and isolation. Using coated magnetic beads, such as streptavidin beads, as the reagent in a CLIA is an easy and established technique favored among many clinical scientists.
When scaling up a process using a traditional magnetic separation rack, the percentage of bead and biomolecule losses significantly increases with an increase in volume. One way of dealing with this problem is by applying a higher force at longer distances. But for this to work, you must apply this greater force without increasing the forces in the retention area during the magnetic separation process, in order to avoid irreversible aggregation.
If one wants to scale up production from small lab lots to full-scale large lots, a non-homogenous magnetic separation process will result in lot-to-lot inconsistencies. Homogenous biomagnetic separation conditions, however, guarantee consistent results regardless of production scale.
Biomagnetic separation techniques are faster, cheaper and easier to use than non-magnetic techniques. In addition, when a magnetic separation process is performed under homogenous conditions, these techniques are also scalable and easily validated.
Due to the inherent properties of classic non-homogenous biomagnetic separators, beads can aggregate during the magnetic separation process. When this happens, technicians try to resolve the magnetic beads separation problem by using special resuspension techniques like the sonication method. But problems with resuspension can ultimately lead to end-product variability, especially if aggregation is not detected early.
