Lateral Flow Assays

PolyAn’s fluorescent PMMA Nanobeads can be applied as reporters in a lateral flow assay (stripe tests) as an alternative to the conventional colorimetric read out using for example gold nanoparticles (colloidal gold).

Application example:

IgM autoantibodies with affinity for the Fc portion of IgG are well-accepted biomarkers for rheumatoid arthritis. Fluorescent PMMA Nanobeads have been used in autoimmune diagnostics to detect IgM autoantibodies in sera from patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Principle of the Nanobead-based lateral flow assay. Test line: The fluorescence-encoded Nanobeads only accumulate at the test line, when IgM autoantibodies are present in a patient serum and bind to the immobilized human Fc fragment. Control line: The Nanobeads always accumulate at the control line, because of the binding of IgG antibodies to Protein G.

Nanobead-based lateral flow assay strips with different dilutions of serum from a patient with rheumatoid arthritis using a fluorescence scanner (excitation at 640 nm, detection at 700–750 nm).

Selected Publications:

  • Schmidt, C. et al., `Fluorescence-encoded poly(methyl metharcylate) nanoparticles for a lateral flow assay detecting IgM autoantibodies in rheumatoid arthritis´, Anal. Biochem., 2021, 633, 114389. DOI: 10.1016/j.ab.2021.114389.