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Nano-in-Micro Smart Hydrogel Composite for a Rapid Sensitive Immunoassay

Myat Noe Hsu1,2,3, Shih-Chung Wei2,3, Dinh-Tuan Phan2

  • 1NUS Graduate School for Integrated Science and Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 119077, Singapore.

Advanced Healthcare Materials
|January 24, 2019
PubMed

Immunoassays are an important tool in various bioanalytical settings, such as clinical diagnostics, biopharmaceutical analysis, environmental monitoring, and food testing. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is usually used to amplify immunoassay signals; however, it requires labor-intensive and time-consuming procedures, which hinders its application to rapid cytokine detection. In this study, a nano-in-micro composite system, where immunosensing polystyrene beads (≈320 nm) are incorporated within a stimuli-responsive microgel matrix (≈40 µm) via microfluidics, is investigated. The intrinsic volume phase-transition change properties of the smart microgels allows an enzyme-free enhanced immunoassay, enabling instant enhancement in signal-to-noise ratios of ≈5-fold. This nano-in-micro hydrogel composite offers a simple yet highly effective method for sensitive and multiplexed cytokine analysis without complex enzyme-based signal amplification steps, greatly benefitting advanced immune medicine.

Keywords:
droplet microfluidicsimmunofluorescence assaysmicrogel immunosensorssignal enhancement

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