Surface Extinction
Spectroscopy Based Sandwich Immunoassays with Gold Nanoparticles for
Detection of Proteins
There is a great need
to develop novel methods to achieve lower limits of detection of
biological materials for diagnostics based applications. One attractive
method involves using gold nanoparticles themselves as labels and
monitoring the surface plasmon band intensity as a function of the antigen
concentration. We will use this concept to prepare gold nanoparticle
bioconjugates as labels for sandwich immunoassays for the detection of
proteins. We will test this concept with biotin-streptavidin
bioconjugates and model IgG proteins and then extend it for the detection
of clinically relevant proteins and biomarkers. We will compare the
limits of detection achieved with surface extinction spectroscopy compared
to other methods. Students working on this project will gain many
valuable skills such as synthesis and characterization of gold
nanoparticles, conducting sandwich immunoassays, and surface extinction
spectroscopy.
