Magnetic Binding Assays Utilizing Time-Resolved Up-Converting Luminescence Detection

摘要

This invention describes a general magnetic binding assay method to detect the presence and quantity of analyte in a sample. The method uses magnetic particles for separating and concentrating analytes of interest from complex samples and use time-resolved up-converting fluorescence detection technique to provide highly sensitive detection without using expensive optical components such as band-pass filters. The method uses pulsed long wavelength light for excitation and time-delayed luminescence detection, resulting in little interferences from sample matrices. Furthermore, the usage of long wavelength excitation light requires simpler sample preparation and clean-up such as removal of red blood cells, which otherwise will significantly interfere with excitation efficiency of the fluorescence probes.