Immunoassay Nanocatalysts

描述(申请人提供)：我们的目标是开发一种基于纳米技术的生物免疫分析平台，避免使用不稳定的酶作为扩增标记。酶标记抗体有几个众所周知的局限性。它们通常需要冷藏，否则会因变性而失去活性。此外，它们的活性对化学环境也很敏感。因此，开发一种稳定的、合成的系统来取代这一应用中的酶是非常可取的。免疫分析被广泛应用于生物、农业和环境领域，包括临床诊断和护理点检测、药物发现、蛋白质组学、水、食品和土壤分析以及法医(包括生物恐怖主义防御)。坚固而经济的试剂，如建议的抗体标记，将在所有这些领域占有一席之地。在这个第一阶段的项目中，我们将制备新的抗体结合物，评估它们在模型免疫分析中的应用，并确定它们在高温下的稳定性。这些目标的成功实现将证明所提出的生物结合物是一种潜在的模拟物，并可替代用于多种免疫分析的酶-抗体结合物。 公共卫生相关性：该项目寻求开发一种方法，以改善常用诊断测试的环境稳定性。主要的好处将是，这些测试可以保持其高水平的灵敏度，而不需要制冷。这些测试将在临床、生物、农业和环境领域得到广泛应用。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Our aim is to develop a nanotechnology-based biological immunoassay platform that precludes the use of labile enzymes as amplifying labels. Enzyme-labeled antibodies have several well-known limitations. They typically require cold storage or they will lose their activity through denaturation. Furthermore, their activity can be sensitive to the chemical environment. Hence, it would be highly desirable to develop a stable, synthetic system to replace enzymes in this application. Immunoassays are employed in a wide range of biological, agricultural and environmental fields, including clinical diagnostics and point-of-care testing, drug discovery, proteomics, water, food and soil analysis, and forensics (including bioterrorism defense). Robust and cost-effective reagents such as the proposed antibody labels will have a place in all of these arenas. In this Phase I project we will prepare novel antibodies conjugates, evaluate their use in a model immunoassay, and determine their stability at elevated temperatures. The successful completion of these aims will demonstrate that the proposed bioconjugates are potential mimetics and substitutes for enzyme-antibody conjugates used in a multitude of immunoassays. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This project seeks to develop a method for improving the environmental stability of commonly used diagnostic tests. The primary benefit will be that the tests can maintain their high levels of sensitivity without the need for refrigeration. The tests will have applications in a wide range of clinical, biological, agricultural and environmental fields.