Lanthanide-based time-resolved luminescence immunoassays

The sensitive and specific detection of analytes such as proteins in biological samples is critical for a variety of applications, for example disease diagnosis. In immunoassays a signal in response to the concentration of analyte present is generated by use of antibodies labeled with radioisotopes, luminophores, or enzymes. All immunoassays suffer to some extent from the problem of the background signal observed in the absence of analyte, which limits the sensitivity and dynamic range that can be achieved. This is especially the case for homogeneous immunoassays and surface measurements on tissue sections and membranes, which typically have a high background because of sample autofluorescence. One way of minimizing background in immunoassays involves the use of lanthanide chelate labels. Luminescent lanthanide complexes have exceedingly long-lived luminescence in comparison with conventional fluorophores, enabling the short-lived background interferences to be removed via time-gated acquisition and delivering greater assay sensitivity and a broader dynamic range. This review highlights the potential of using lanthanide luminescence to design sensitive and specific immunoassays. Techniques for labeling biomolecules with lanthanide chelate tags are discussed, with aspects of chelate design. Microtitre plate-based heterogeneous and homogeneous assays are reviewed and compared in terms of sensitivity, dynamic range, and convenience. The great potential of surface-based time-resolved imaging techniques for biomolecules on gels, membranes, and tissue sections using lanthanide tracers in proteomics applications is also emphasized

Collector probe analysis of tungsten transport to the far-SOL from the DIII-D SAS-VW divertor experiment

Experimental results from the 2022 tungsten (W)-coated Small Angle Slot (SAS-VW) divertor campaign at DIII-D coupled with interpretive 3DLIM modelling show opposing trends for core impurity content when compared to impurity deposition on far-Scrape Off Layer (SOL) Collector Probes (CPs) with increasing main ion density. SAS-VW is a closed, W-coated divertor designed to more easily facilitate divertor detachment while reducing impurity leakage. An experiment performed a series of upper-single-null L-mode discharges in each toroidal magnetic field (BT) direction, with increasing main ion density (line-averaged density = 3.15–4.35e19 m−3) that approaches and slightly exceeds the divertor detachment threshold. The results indicate: a) increased radial W transport with decreasing peak Te,tLP; and b) negligible change in W content in the far-SOL at the outer mid-plane with the onset of divertor detachment.Preliminary W deposition measurements using double-sided, graphite CPs inserted at the Midplane Materials Evaluation System (MiMES) reveal a 75% decrease over the density scan when operating in the unfavorable (ion B×∇B out of the divertor) BT direction. In contrast, soft X-ray (SXR) radiation from the same discharges is used as a proxy for W core contamination, showing core W content that increases by 77% with increasing line-averaged density. Similar L-mode discharges conducted in the favorable BT direction result in significantly less deposition on CPs.Using an interpretive modeling workflow following Zamperini 2022 [1] for assessing the transport of W sputtered from the SAS-VW divertor, the analysis suggests that W migration to the main chamber surfaces during the campaign may also contribute to far-SOL deposition