Magnetically labelled gold and epoxy bi-functional microcarriers for suspension based bioassay technologies
Abstract
Microarrays and suspension-based assay technologies have attracted significant interest over the past decade with applications ranging from medical diagnostics to high throughput molecular biology. The throughput and sensitivity of a microarray will always be limited by the array density and slow reaction kinetics. Suspension (or bead) based technologies offer a conceptually different approach, improving detection by substituting a fixed plane of operation with many individually distinguishable microcarriers. In addition to all the features of a suspension based assay technology, our technology offers a rewritable label. This has the potential to be truly revolutionary by opening up the possibility of generating, on chip, extensive labelled molecular libraries. We unveil our latest SU-8 microcarrier design with embedded magnetic films that can be utilized for both magnetic and optical