Improvement of immunoassay detection sensitivity by using well-defined raspberry-like magnetic microbeads as carriers

Well-defined raspberry-like magnetic microbeads(RMMBs) as immunoassay solid carriers were prepared by chemical covalent binding between Fe3O4 magnetic microspheres and SiO2 nanoparticles. These RMMBs were not as agglomerative as nano-sized magnetie particles( 200 nm), which was an advangtage for high efficient magnetic separation. When compared to Fe3O4@SiO2core-shell magnetic microbeads(CMMBs) with smooth surface, RMMBs exhibited stronger capacity to bind biomolecules. Limit of blank(LoB) and limit of detection(LoD) of HBsAg detection using RMMBs as carriers via chemiluminiscence immunoassay(CLIA) were 0.472 and1.022 μg/L, respectively, showing a notable improvement compared with CMMBs whose LoB and LoD were 1.017 and 1.988 μg/L, respectively. All these indicated a great potential of RMMBs in immunoassay application.     

Progress of optically encoded microspheres for multiplexed assays

New initiatives put forward by clinical diagnosis require the development of technologies for high throughput screening （HTS） of multiple analytes. Suspension arrays have great advantages over the planar array- based multiplexing assays, and the encoded bead is the key for providing multiplexing capability. Among various encoding strategies, optically encoded microspheres have been widely used while the number of codes is still limited. This review discusses the progress of optical encoding strategy from mainly three aspects, namely organic dyes, quantum dots （QDs） and surface-enhanced Raman scattering （SERS） active substrates. Emphases are put up on describing how these optical encoded microbeads are manufactured and the merits and demerits of different encoding materials are compared.