Optimiser™ microplate and OptiMax™ reagent systems enable femtogram/ml level sensitivity employing standard ELISA equipment and protocols (65.32)

Abstract

Abstract Optimiser™ Microfluidic ELISA Plates dramatically enhance ELISA sensitivity through the incorporation of microfluidic channels into a standard ELISA plate configuration. Validation studies with Optimiser™ microfluidic ELISA plates demonstrate the Optimiser™’s ability to utilize available sandwich ELISA reagents, equipment, and protocols to attain unparalleled levels of sensitivity. Limits of Detection and Limits of Quantification are demonstrated for a variety of assays in the range of 30-100 fg/ml, representing a 20-1000 fold improvement over the same assays run in conventional ELISA plates. OptiMax™ ELISA Reagent protocols on Optimiser™ Microfluidic ELISA Plates employ the similar reagents, but abbreviated assay steps because, unlike conventional sandwich ELISAs, no traditional plate washing is required. Optimiser™ Microfluidic ELISA Plates are compatible with existing pipetting systems (manual or automated) and ELISA plate readers. Furthermore, the surface area to volume ratio of each microfluidic reaction chamber represents a 50-fold increase when compared to the well of a conventional 96-well immunoassay plate. The improvement in surface to volume ratio increases binding kinetics dramatically, enabling assays to be run in less than half the time of traditional ELISA assays and providing researchers with the flexibility to use dramatically smaller sample and reagent volumes (e.g., 5 ul).