AFFINITY COUPLING OF RECEPTORS ON MICROCHIPS

REAGENTS AND REACTION PROCEDURES WILL BE DEVELOPED DURING PHASE I FOR THE COUPLING OF ANTIBODY MOLECULES TO THE ACTIVATED SURFACE OF MICROCHIP CAPACITANCE SENSORS. PROPRIETARY PHOTOAFFINITY REAGENTS WILL BE SYNTHESIZED AND COUPLED TO THE ELECTRODE SURFACE FOR SPECIFIC COVALENT BINDING OF MONOCLONAL ANTIBODY (USING ONE OF THE TWO ANTIBODY BINDING SITES). THIS WILL LEAVE THE REMAINING STABILIZED ANTIBODY BINDING SITE AVAILABLE FOR FUNCTIONAL EXCHANGE BETWEEN SURFACE-IMMOBILIZED ANALYTE (TOLUENE OR DERIVATIVES) AND FREE ANALYTE MOLECULES, IF PRESENT, IN THE SAMPLE. PRESENCE OF ANALYTE IN THE SAMPLE WILL INDUCE DISPLACEMENT OF ANTIBODY FROM SURFACE-IMMOBILIZED ANALYTE. THE CAPACITANCE WILL INCREASE PROPORTIONALLY TO THE AMOUNT OF FREE ANALYTE IN THE SAMPLE. A CURRENT VERSION OF THIS IMMUNOSENSOR HAS THE DETECTING REAGENTS ENVELOPED IN A SEMIPERMEABLE MEMBRANE. ACHIEVEMENT OF THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS PROJECT WILL ELIMINATE THE NEED FOR THIS MEMBRANE AND WILL DEMONSTRATE A SENSOR WITH IMPROVED PERFORMANCE (FASTER RESPONSE AND REGENERATION AS WELL AS INCREASED SENSITIVITY, PARTICULARLY WHEN RAPID ANALYSES ARE REQUIRED). DEMONSTRATING SENSOR FEASIBILITY WITH TOLUENE (OR DERIVATIVES) WILL SUPPORT THE UTILITY OF THIS TECHNOLOGY FORSENSITIVE , RAPID, AND SELECTIVE SENSING AND MONITORING OF VARIOUS ADVERSE AGENTS. THE SENSOR DEVICE WILL REVERSIBLY RECOGNIZE AND QUANTITATE ANALYTE CONTENT IN BATCH OR CONTINUOUS SAMPLING SITUATIONS AND TRANSDUCE THE SIGNAL WITHELECTRONIC DATA RECORDING AND TRANSMISSION. SUCH A DEVICE WOULD OFFER A BROAD RANGE OF APPLICABILITY FOR PERIODIC SAMPLE ANALYSIS AND REAL-TIME, ON-LINE MONITORING OF FLUIDS (AIR, WATER, AND FUELS) AS WELL AS DOSIMETRY MEASUREMENTS INAIR AND PHYSIOLOGICAL FLUIDS.