2 research outputs found
Lateral flow glycoâassays for the rapid and lowâcost detection of lectinsâpolymeric linkers and particle engineering are essential for selectivity and performance
Lateral flow immunoâassays, such as the home pregnancy test, are rapid pointâofâcare diagnostics that use antibodyâcoated nanoparticles to bind antigens/analytes (e.g., viruses, toxins or hormones). Ease of use, no need for centralized infrastructure and lowâcost, makes these devices appealing for rapid disease identification, especially in lowâresource environments. Here glycosylated polymerâcoated nanoparticles are demonstrated for the sensitive, labelâfree detection of lectins in lateral flow and flowâthrough. The systems introduced here use glycans, not antibodies, to provide recognition: a âlateral flow glycoâassay,â providing unique biosensing opportunities. Glycans are installed onto polymer termini and immobilized onto gold nanoparticles, providing colloidal stability but crucially also introducing assay tunability and selectivity. Using soybean agglutinin and Ricinus communis agglutinin I (RCA120) as model analytes, the impact of polymer chain length and nanoparticle core size are evaluated, with chain length found to have a significant effect on signal generationâhighlighting the need to control the macromolecular architecture to tune response. With optimized systems, lectins are detectable at subnanomolar concentrations, comparable to antibodyâbased systems. Complete lateral flow devices are also assembled to show how these devices can be deployed in the âreal world.â This work shows that glycanâbinding can be a valuable tool in rapid diagnostics