ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the immense potential for sensitive detection and the scope for multiplexed analysis. It discusses the status of ‘lab-on-a-chip’ immunoassay platforms, focusing on substrate selection, microfluidic design and antibody immobilisation. ‘Lab-on-a-chip’ immunoassay configurations can be either heterogeneous or homogeneous. ‘Lab-on-a-chip’ immunoassays have also been developed for other bacterial pathogens. Immunoassays have become the gold-standard technique for detecting a panel of biologically and medically important antigens. Furthermore, trends have seen the integration of biomedical engineering and immunoassay development for the production of miniaturised, microfluidic platforms capable of detecting relevant analytes in a rapid, sensitive and reliable manner. ‘Lab-on-a-chip’ immunoassay configurations can be either heterogeneous or homogeneous. Homogeneous immunoassays involve interactions between antibodies and antigens in solution, and for microfluidics-based immunoassays bound and unbound antibodies are typically discriminated by their electrophoretic mobility properties in microchannels. When developing immunoassays for detecting bacterial pathogens, it is common for preliminary, proof-of-concept measurements to detect strains of interest propagated in the.
