Microwave-Accelerated Immunoassay Instrument

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The explosive growth of proteomics has increased the demand for rapid and convenient means of studying biomolecular binding interactions. The goal of this project is to build and test a novel instrument for a new immunoassay technology called Microwave-Accelerated Surface Chemistry (MASC). MASC consists of two components; preparative, which involves accelerating antibody binding events, and analytical, which involves microwave-triggered reporter chemiluminescence. The instrument will be, in essence, a microwave incubator/luminometer for performing chip-based immunoassays. MASC chips are unique in containing microwave-active dielectric materials. When irradiated by low power microwaves, the chips undergo controlled temperature increases, inducing preparative and analytical surface reactions. The instrument will consist of a microwave source (magnetron), a novel waveguide-based reaction cell, a photomultiplier tube to capture light emitted from chips, and a personal computer to initiate reactions and collect and analyze data. We believe that by performing chip reactions within a waveguide we will obtain much more uniform and controllable heating than the current use of a microwave oven cavity. This innovation will confer leapfrog advances in data quality and throughput, thus greatly improving MASC technology. If successful, this waveguide-based instrument will directly lead to commercial MASC systems. The first aim of the research is to build a high quality instrument according to a pre-existing design. The second aim is to compare the performance of the instrument to a microwave oven based instrument. Performance will be rigorously judged in terms of precision, sensitivity, background, and dynamic range. Mirari plans to commercialize MASC instruments and chips for immunoassay-based research. These products will accelerate drug discovery and development and reduce associated costs.