[Article] - Boosting medical tests with surface acoustic waves
Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) are widely used in biology and clinical diagnosis. Relying on antigen−antibody interaction through diffusion, the standard ELISA protocol can be time-consuming, preventing its use in rapid diagnostics. We present a timesaving and more sensitive ELISA without changing the standard setup and protocol, using surface acoustic waves (SAWs) to enhance performance. Each step of the assay, from the initial antibody binding onto the walls of the well plate to the target analyte molecules’ binding for detection -except, notably, for the blocking step- is improved principally via acoustic streaming-driven advection. Using SAWs, the time required for one step of an example ELISA is reduced from 60 to 15 min to achieve the same binding amount. By extending the duration of SAW exposure to 20 min, the sensitivity can be significantly improved over the 60 min, 35 °C ELISA without SAWs. By significantly increasing the speed of ELISA, its utility may be improved for a wide range of point-of care diagnostics applications.
Autors
Lei Zhang1, Shuai Zhang1, Cécile Floer2, Sreeya Anjana Raj Kantubuktha1, María José González Ruiz Velasco1 and James Friend1
1) Medically Advanced Devices Laboratory, Center for Medical Devices, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Jacobs School of Engineering, and the Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, United States
2) Université de Lorraine, CNRS, IJL, F-54000 Nancy, France
References
Analytical Chemistry
DOI
