ACOUSTIC EMISSION IMMUNOASSAY (AEI)

THE PROJECT INTENDS TO DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF A TOTALLY NEW ANTIGEN-ANTIBODY SENSING TECHNOLOGY THAT MEETS OR EXCEEDS THE REQUIRED SENSITIVITY FOR THE RAPID HOMOGENEOUS MONITORING OF ANTIGEN-ANTIBODY REACTIONS REQUIRING NO INITIAL SAMPLE OR SENSOR PREPARATION. VERY RECENTLY, ACOUSTIC EMISSION CHEMISTRY HAS BEEN RECOGNIZED AND HAS BEGUN TO BE STUDIED. MANY CHEMICAL OR BIOCHEMICAL DYNAMIC SYSTEMS ARE ACOUSTICALLY ACTIVE. CHEMICAL CHANGES ARE NORMALLY ACCOMPANIED BY ENERGY TRANSFER AND SOME OF THE ENERGY RELEASED MAY BE IN THE FORM OF AN ACOUSTIC WAVE. RESEARCHERS ANTICIPATED THAT THESE CHEMICAL PHENOMENA WOULD CAUSE THE PROPAGATION OF ACOUSTIC EMISSION SPECTRA DURING THE ANTIGEN-ANTIBODY REACTION. VERY PRELIMINARY EXPERIMENTAL DATA APPEARS TO SUPPORT THIS. THE PROJECT INTENDS TO DEMONSTRATE AND UTILIZE THIS PRINCIPLE VIA A METHOD TERMED ACOUSTIC EMISSION IMMUNOASSAY (AEI). THIS WILL RESULT IN THE TESTING OF AN ACOUSTIC EMISSION IMMUNOSENSOR. IT IS ANTICIPATED THAT THESE MOLECULAR EVENTS MAY BE ABLE TO BE DETECTED AND QUANTITATED EVEN IN TURBID MATERIALS USING THIS TECHNIQUE. IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE THIS GOAL THE FOLLOWING RESEARCH OBJECTIVES WILL BE ATTAINED: (1) THE DESIGN, FABRICATION, AND TESTING OF AN ACOUSTIC EMISSION IMMUNOASSAY (AEI) SYSTEM; AND (2) THE STUDY OF THE AEI RESPONSE FOR A MODEL ANTIGEN-ANTIBODY SYSTEM. THE RESEARCH WILL DETERMINE A FREQUENCY SPECTRUM, AMPLITUDE, AND TIME DURATION OF THE AE SIGNALS FROM ANTIGEN-ANTIBODY (AG-AB) REACTION AS A FUNCTION OF REACTIVE AG-AB CONCENTRATION FOR THE GIVEN EXPERIMENTAL CONDITIONS.