DEVICE AND METHOD FOR DETECTION AND QUANTIFICATION OF IMMUNOLOGICAL PROTEINS, PATHOGENIC AND MICROBIAL AGENTS AND CELLS

摘要

The present invention provides a method and device for detecting and quantifying the concentration of magnetic-responsive micro-beads dispersed in a liquid sample. Also provided is a method and microfluidic immunoassay pScreenTM device for detecting and quantifying the concentration of an analyte in a sample medium by using antigen-specific antibody-coated magnetic-responsive micro-beads. The methods and devices of the present invention have broad applications for point-of-care diagnostics by allowing quantification of a large variety of analytes, such as proteins, protein fragments, antigens, antibodies, antibody fragments, peptides, RNA, RNA fragments, functionalized magnetic micro-beads specific to CD4+, CD8+cells, malaria-infected red blood cells, cancer cells, cancer biomarkers such as prostate specific antigen and other cancer biomarkers, viruses, bacteria, and other pathogenic agents, with the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of bench-top laboratory-based assays.