RAPID FIBEROPTIC FLUORO-IMMUNOASSAY OF CANNABINOIDS

THE PROJECT'S LONG-TERM OBJECTIVE IS TO DEVELOP A VERY SENSITIVE POCKET-SIZE FIBEROPTIC FLUORO-IMMUNOASSAY (FFIA) SYSTEM FOR THE DETECTION OF DRUGS OF ABUSE. THIS DETECTION WILL BE EITHER OF INDIVIDUAL DRUGS OR SIMULTANEOUSLY OF 1 OR MORE DRUGS IN A PANEL OF UP TO 50 DRUGS, AND WILL TAKE LESS THAN 30 SECONDS. SIMULTANEOUS DETECTION WILL BE DONE ON A SINGLE SPECIMEN WITHOUT ANY SAMPLE PREPARATION OR SAMPLE VOLUME MEASUREMENT. THERE ARE TWO SPECIFIC AIMS. THE FIRST IS TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF ORD'S FFIA METHOD FOR THE DETECTION OF CANNABINOIDS. THE PROPOSED SENSITIVITY GOAL IS 10 NG/ML OF THE TETRAHYDRO-CANNABINOL (THC) URINARY METABOLITE. ALTHOUGH AN ASSAY IS PROPOSED FOR URINARY METABOLITES, ORD'SMETHOD HAS THE POTENTIAL FOR MEASURING THE FREE DRUG DIRECTLY IN A DROP OF WHOLE BLOOD WITHOUT ANY SEPARATION STEPS. THE SECOND SPECIFIC AIM IS TO MODIFY THE FFIA INSTRUMENT FOR AN INVESTIGATION INTO OPTIMIZING FIBER AREA TO ALLOW FOR THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF DRUGS TO BE DETECTED SIMULTANEOUSLY.