Lateral Flow Assay Laser Epifluorescence Scanner
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current diagnostic methods, such as RIA and ELISA, are cumbersome and expensive, limiting their use in small-scale settings like hospitals and homes, and conventional lateral flow assays cannot quantify analytes accurately, making it difficult to diagnose diseases with close cut-off values, such as prostate cancer.
Innovation Solution
A lateral flow quantitative assay method using laser-induced fluorescence detection with a strip and small scanner, optimizing the biochip design to include a reference line, micro-arraying antibodies, and enhancing laser light efficiency for precise analyte concentration measurement and spatial distribution analysis.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If conventional lateral flow assay is used, then the diagnostic kit is convenient and can be used in small-scale settings, but quantitative analysis cannot be performed and exact analyte concentration cannot be determined
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the conventional visual/naked-eye detection method with laser-induced fluorescence detection. The laser beam excites fluorescently labeled antibodies bound to the analyte, and the emitted fluorescence is detected by a photodetector, enabling quantitative measurement. This substitution of optical detection for visual inspection achieves precise quantification while keeping the device relatively simple and portable.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces fluorescence labeling of antibodies, changing the detection parameter from visual colorimetric readout to fluorescence intensity measurement. By labeling the detector antibody with a fluorescent substance, the system can quantify analyte concentration based on fluorescence signal strength, achieving both convenience and measurement precision.
2Measurement precision
If RIA or ELISA methods are used, then analyte quantification can be performed accurately, but the procedures are cumbersome, expensive, and require complex analytical machinery
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the complex RIA/ELISA procedures into a simplified lateral flow format. The immunoassay is divided into discrete zones on the strip (sample application area, reaction zone with captor antibodies, detection zone with fluorescently labeled antibodies), allowing the sample to flow through and undergo reactions in sequence without manual intervention at each step. This maintains measurement accuracy while dramatically improving ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The lateral flow strip performs self-service by using capillary action to drive the sample through the assay automatically. The sample flows from the application area through the reaction zones and is absorbed by the absorption pad without requiring external pumping or manual manipulation, eliminating the cumbersome multi-step procedures of conventional methods while maintaining quantification accuracy.
3Productivity
If conventional lateral flow assay with gold particles is used, then the assay is simple and rapid, but the detection range is limited and hook effect occurs at high concentrations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the detection parameter from colorimetric (gold particle aggregation) to fluorescence intensity. Fluorescence detection provides a linear response over a wider concentration range and does not suffer from the hook effect that limits gold particle-based assays at high analyte concentrations. This maintains the rapidity of lateral flow while improving reliability and expanding the detection range.
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
Enables accurate, rapid, and cost-effective quantitative analysis of disease markers, allowing for precise point-of-care diagnostics and simultaneous analysis of multiple cancer markers, reducing the hook effect and expanding detection ranges.
Implementation Method 1
based on detecting emitted fluorescence when laser light is focused to the disease marker deposited onto a lateral flow quantitative assay chip
Implementation Method 2
laser-induced epifluorescence detection device
Implementation Method 3
migrating the liquid sample through the chromatography medium
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed is a lateral flow quantitative assay method capable of quantitatively determining the concentration and analyzing the spatial distribution of a disease marker by employing the principle of the laser-induced fluorescence detection technique, which is based on detecting emitted fluorescence when laser light is focused to the disease marker deposited onto a lateral flow quantitative assay chip. The present invention discloses a strip, a laser-induced epifluorescence detection device and a small scanner for the assay method. The present assay method is advantageous in terms of allowing quantitative point-of-care diagnostics in hospitals, being capable of specifically detecting a disease marker by optimizing a lateral flow assay biochip for diagnosis of a specific disease, allowing more accurate quantitative analysis of analytes, and being capable of simultaneously analyzing several cancer markers, reducing the hook effect and expanding the detection range and accurately measuring concentration of analytes.