Chip-Based Immunological Assay Without External Buffer
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional immunological assays require a buffer solution to be supplied or retained on a chip, which is time-consuming and difficult to maintain, especially for chip-based biosensors, and typically use a buffer solution free from the substance to be measured as a solvent, limiting their efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A chip with a reaction chamber, solvent retaining chamber, and effluent chamber connected by channels allows the use of a sample solution as the solvent for the measurement, enabling antigen-antibody reactions and separation without external buffer solution, using a measuring reagent to detect the antigen-antibody complex or unbound antibodies, thereby calculating the antigen concentration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a buffer solution is supplied or retained on a chip for immunological assays, then the assay can be performed, but it is time-consuming and difficult to maintain
Solution Approach 1:
The chip uses the sample solution itself as the solvent for the measurement, eliminating the need for separate buffer solution supply. The sample solution serves dual purposes: as the medium containing the antigen to be measured and as the solvent for the measurement reaction, thereby reducing time consumption and operational complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The sample solution performs multiple functions simultaneously: it acts as the reaction medium, the solvent for the measuring reagent, and the source of the analyte. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate buffer solutions and simplifies the overall system operation
2Measurement precision
If a buffer solution free from the substance to be measured is used as a solvent, then the measurement can be accurate, but it limits the efficiency and requires external buffer supply
Solution Approach 1:
The sample solution serves as its own solvent, eliminating the need for external buffer supply. This self-service approach maintains measurement accuracy while significantly improving assay efficiency by removing the step of external buffer provision and reducing the number of components to manage
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the parameter of the solvent from a pure buffer solution to the sample solution itself. This parameter change is achieved by adjusting the measurement conditions and using the sample solution in a controlled manner, allowing the sample to serve as both the analyte medium and the solvent without compromising measurement accuracy
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method allows for accurate detection of antigen concentrations in biological samples using the sample solution as a solvent, comparable to traditional buffer-based methods, without the need for external buffer supply, facilitating chip-based immunological assays.
Implementation Method 1
an antigen-antibody reaction proceeds between the antibody 3 and the antigen 2 to be measured
Implementation Method 2
a solution containing a measuring reagent (for example, a substrate of the enzyme) that reacts with the labeling substance 4 is prepared
Implementation Method 3
a signal that reflects the amount of reaction product is detected
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention provides an immunological assay suitable to be carried out on a chip. After an antigen-antibody complex in which an antigen 2 to be measured and an antibody 3 have bound to each other was obtained in a reaction chamber 7, the amount of the antigen-antibody complex or the antibody that has not bound to the antigen to be measured by using a measurement solution obtained by using the sample solution 8 as a solvent. According to the present invention, the measurement solution for detecting the signal that reflects the amount of the substance to be measured can be obtained without using a buffer solution free from a substance to be measured, such as protein. Thus, it is not necessary to supply a buffer solution from the outside of the chip or to allow the buffer solution to be retained on the chip beforehand. Accordingly, an immunological assay can be carried out easily on a chip.