Greater Sensitivity ELISA for HIV by Photoillumination

DESCRIPTION (provided by the applicant): Based on a preliminary tests, Illumination Technologies has demonstrated a 26-fold improvement in the detection sensitivity of HIV p24 on pedigreed human plasma samples using a commercial ELISA assay manufactured by DuPont. The company is determined to further develop the BioPhotTM technology (illuminator and amplification reagent) and proposes to expand the testing of the Dupont HIV p24 assay to a more statistically significant sample set, under the continued direction of Dr. Poiesz at the SU'NY Health Science Center. The goal for this round of tests is to establish a statistically significant data set, using normal human plasma samples, for determining the absolute sensitivity cut-off and therefore the calculated sensitivity improvement. The BioPhotTM technology has also demonstrated increased sensitivity for other viral, bacterial and tumor marker assays that utilize I-IRP conjugates and OPD for color development. These results support the theoretical basis suggesting that BioPhotTM is an enabling or platform technology. Preliminary evidence suggests that the BioPhotTM platform can be developed for a wide range of applications that utilize HRP conjugates and OPD for color development. Further parallel efforts using commercial assays for the detection of the Strep bacterium S. pyogenes are proposed to preliminarily demonstrate platform invariance PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: More sensitive screening assyas based on industry standard ELISA kits for the detection of harmful pathogens including HIV, Hepatitis, E. Coli, Samonella and a host of tumor markers.