SURFACE INVESTIGATIONS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF A DIRECT OPTICAL IMMUNOSENSOR

In the present paper surface studies for the development of a direct o ptical immunosensor for fast diagnosis of a myocardial infarction are presented. A fatty acid binding protein was detected by monoclonal ant ibodies. The applied measuring system was the grating coupler BIOS-1. Based on commercially available transducer materials protein immobilis ation techniques have been developed and characterised by TOF-SIMS, AF M and EM. Three different label-free assay types were investigated. On ly one assay leads to a sensitive and regenerable sensor set-up. It wa s possible to detect concentrations of the fatty acid binding protein down to 330 ng/ml. The general applicability of a direct optical immun osensor in the field of myocardial infarction diagnosis was demonstrat ed by this. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.