BIOSENSOR APPLICATIONS: EVALUATION IN IMMUNODIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES

THE USE OF CONDUCTIVE/SEMICONDUCTIVE POLYACETYLENE FILMS AS A SUBSTRATE FOR THE ADSORPTION OR COVALENT COUPLING OF BIOMOLECULES OFFERS THE POTENTIAL OF SIMPLE, LOW COST, DIRECT BIOSENSOR DEVICES. PRELIMINARY FEASIBILITY EXPERIMENTATION ON THIS CONCEPT HAS DEMON STRATED A SIMPLE MEHTOD FOR THE DIRECT ELECTRICAL MEASUREMENT OF AN IMMUNOCHEMICAL BINDING REACTION. AT THE PRESENT TIME, NO ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES OR DEVICES HAVE BEEN REPORTED WHICH UTILIZE THE UNIQUE PROPERTIES OF CONDUCTIVE ORGANIC POLYMERS. CURRENT DEVELOPMENT OF BIOSENSOR TECHNOLOGY IS BASED ON CONVENTIONAL APPROACHES; USE OF ION SELECTIVE ELECTRODES, THERMISTORS, CHEMFET'S AND RELATED MICROELECTRONIC TECHNIQUES. POLYACETYLENE FILMS, AS THE PROTOTYPE CONDUCIVEPOLYMER, DISPLAYS A WIDE RANGE OF ELECTRONIC PROPERTIES IN RESPONSE TO MODIFICATION (DOPING) BY A VARIETY OF CHEMICAL SPECIES. THIS PROPOSALOUTLINES A UNIQUE,SPECIFIC EXPERIMENTAL PROTOCOL FOR FURTHER EVALUATING THE USE OF POLYACETYLENE COMPOSITES IN IMMUNODIAGNOSTIC TECHNI QUES.