Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 1, 2026
08:58
Efficient Sampling of Genetically Encoded Biosensor Design Space Enabled with a Design of Experiments and Automation Workflow
Published on: October 17, 2025
743
Digital Assays Part II: Digital Protein and Cell Assays
11 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Department of Biomedical Engineering, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA.
SLAS Technology
|May 27, 2017
Summary
Digital assays precisely quantify biological molecules and cells by partitioning samples. This review covers digital protein and cell assays, enhancing biomarker detection and single-cell analysis for biological heterogeneity studies.
Area of Science:
- Biotechnology
- Molecular Biology
- Assay Development
Background:
- Digital assays partition samples into discrete containers for precise quantification.
- Part II of this review focuses on digital protein and cell assays, building on partitioning and digital PCR fundamentals.
- These assays offer enhanced precision for nucleic acid quantification, protein analysis, and single-cell studies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To provide a comprehensive overview of digital protein and cell assays.
- To highlight the applications of digital assays in measuring protein kinetics, quantifying low-abundance biomarkers, and probing single-cell characteristics.
- To guide scientists in adopting digital assay workflows.
Main Methods:
- Digital enzyme assays measure single protein kinetics.
- Digital enzyme-linked immunoassays (ELISAs) achieve lower detection limits for antigenic proteins.
- Digital cell assays analyze single-cell genotype and phenotype, including gene expression and transcriptomes (scRNA-seq).
- Methods involve partitioning, enzymatic amplification, and molecular barcoding for detection and tagging.
Main Results:
- Digital ELISAs offer 2-3 log lower detection limits for antigenic proteins compared to conventional ELISA.
- Digital cell assays enable detailed analysis of single-cell properties like gene expression, protein levels, and metabolic activity.
- Scalable digital assays reveal stochastic differences within cell or protein populations.
Conclusions:
- Digital assays provide a powerful toolkit for high-precision biological quantification and analysis.
- These methods are crucial for understanding biological heterogeneity at the single-cell and single-protein level.
- Digital assays offer advanced capabilities for biomarker discovery and single-cell characterization.
