ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses protein detection; however, nucleic acid–based detection is very similar. The most effective method of detecting proteins in a solution is via a “sandwich assay.” A solution of monoclonal antibodies means that every antibody in the solution has the exact same Fab region and therefore, will bind to only one epitope on one protein. A reverse phase assay can be used to detect proteins of interest in many patients’ blood samples simultaneously by reorganizing the traditional sandwich assay. The capture antibody or capture protein can be mounted onto the sensor surface via a variety of different methods. The main goal in antibody surface functionalization is to make the sensor surface as reactive as possible, but only to one unique capture antibody or capture protein. In magnetic biosensors, the magnetic label is a very important component of the system. One of the key issues in using giant magnetoresistive sensors as biosensors is effectively integrating the biology with the electronics.
