Evaluation of a Device Designed for Microwave Accelerated Protein Chip Assays

项目概述：随着蛋白质组学的迅猛发展，对快速便捷的生物分子结合相互作用研究手段的需求日益增加。我们在这个项目中的目标是建立和测试一种新的设备，用于一种新的免疫分析技术，称为微波加速表面化学（MASC）。MASC由两个部分组成；制备性，包括加速抗体结合事件，分析性，包括微波触发的报告化学发光。从本质上讲，该设备将是一个微波培养箱/光度计，用于执行基于芯片的免疫测定。MASC芯片在包含微波活性介电材料方面是独一无二的。当低功率微波照射时，芯片经历可控的温度升高，诱导制备和分析表面反应。该装置将由一个微波源（磁控管）、一个新型波导反应电池、一个光电倍增管（用于捕获芯片发出的光）和一台个人电脑（用于启动反应、收集和分析数据）组成。通过在波导内进行芯片反应，我们将获得比目前使用微波炉腔更均匀和可控的加热。这一创新将在数据质量和吞吐量方面带来跨越式的进步。如果成功，这种基于波导的培养箱/光度计将直接导致商业MASC系统。我们研究的第一个目标是根据已有的设计制造出高质量的设备。我们的第二个和第三个目标是分别在快速抗体结合和微波化学发光方面实现比传统控制方法的特定性能改进。我们将使用细胞因子面板进行原型芯片免疫分析。我们计划将MASC设备和芯片商业化，用于基于免疫分析的研究。这些产品将加速药物发现和开发，并降低相关成本。与公共卫生相关：我们的目标是使用一种称为微波加速表面化学（MASC）的新技术，大大缩短进行称为免疫测定的生物分析测试所需的时间。通过将免疫测定时间从几小时缩短到几分钟，MASC将加速蛋白质组学研究中药物的发现和开发。MASC的显著速度也为未来基于免疫测定的快速临床诊断和现场测试带来了希望。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Project Summary: The explosive growth of proteomics has increased the demand for rapid and convenient means of studying biomolecular binding interactions. Our goal in this project is to build and test a novel device for a new immunoassay technology called Microwave-Accelerated Surface Chemistry (MASC). MASC consists of two components; preparative, which involves accelerating antibody binding events, and analytical, which involves microwave-triggered reporter chemiluminescence. The device will be, in essence, a microwave incubator/luminometer for performing chip-based immunoassays. MASC chips are unique in containing microwave-active dielectric materials. When irradiated by low power microwaves, the chips undergo controlled temperature increases, inducing preparative and analytical surface reactions. The device will consist of a microwave source (magnetron), a novel waveguide-based reaction cell, a photomultiplier tube to capture light emitted from chips, and a personal computer to initiate reactions and collect and analyze data. By performing chip reactions within a waveguide, we will obtain much more uniform and controllable heating than the current use of a microwave oven cavity. This innovation will confer leapfrog advances in data quality and throughput. If successful, this waveguide-based incubator/luminometer will directly lead to commercial MASC systems. Our first aim in the research is to build a high quality device according to a pre-existing design. Our second and third aims are to achieve specific performance improvements over conventional control methods in rapid antibody binding and microwave chemiluminescence, respectively. We will use a cytokine panel for prototype chip immunoassays. We plan to commercialize MASC devices and chips for immunoassay-based research. The products will accelerate drug discovery and development and reduce associated costs. Relevance to Public Health: Our goal is to dramatically shrink the time required to perform bioanalytical tests called immunoassays using a new technology called Microwave-Accelerated Surface Chemistry (MASC). By reducing immunoassay times from hours to minutes, MASC will accelerate the discovery and development of drugs from proteomics research. The remarkable speed of MASC also holds promise for future rapid immunoassay-based clinical diagnostics and field testing.