University College Dublin

Mark Platt

Gil Lee

Peng Li

Gemma Cannon

James O'Mahony

A method for detecting an analyte in a sample, the method comprising contacting the analyte in a sample with nanoparticles comprising a capture probe for capturing said analyte, the capture probe being configured to act as a center for controlled aggregation of nanoparticles with said analyte to form an aggregate of predefined form, detecting the analyte by detecting the shape and/or size of the aggregate is provided. Also provided are nanoparticles comprising a capture probe for capturing an analyte, wherein the capture probe is configured to act as a center for controlled aggregation of nanoparticles with the analyte to form an aggregate of particular detectable size and/or shape, and an assay.

System and method for the detection of analytes by controlled aggregation nanoparticles

There is provided a method of aggregating a plurality of beads in a magnetic bead aggregation assay for subsequent analysis comprising: &#x2014;providing magnetic beads comprising a capture probe for binding with said target analyte; &#x2014;reacting the magnetic beads with the sample including a target analyte in a reaction chamber aggregating the magnetic beads in the presence of a magnetic field with the target analyte to allow formation of magnetic bead aggregates having physical properties detectable to enable characterization of the aggregates on an aggregate by aggregate basis using a detector to measure the physical properties of the aggregates. Further provided are a method and system for detecting analytes in a sample by characterizing the magnetic bead aggregates on an aggregate by aggregate basis by measuring physical properties of the aggregates.

Magnetic bead aggregation assay system

There is provided a method of producing microparticles using an emulsion based synthesis route including: Providing a first fluid phase and a second fluid phase, wherein the first fluid phase is a continuous phase and the second fluid phase is a dispersed phase comprising a dispersed material, wherein the continuous phase is immiscible with the dispersed phase; Mixing the first continuous phase and the second dispersed phase in the presence of a surfactant in a shear device to form an emulsion of droplets of controllable size and having a narrow drop size distribution; Drying the emulsion to form microparticles of controllable size and having narrow size distribution, and wherein the microparticles may comprise spherical, crumpled, dimpled, porous or hollow microparticles morphology. Also provided is a system including shear device and drying arrangement. Also provided are micro particles of controllable size and morphology formed by the method.

Microparticles and a system and method for the synthesis of microparticles

A flow enhanced method and system for flow non-linear magnetophoresis (F-NLM) is described. By tuning an external field frequency and the flow rate the migration velocities of different bead types may be caused to differ by several orders of magnitude over an extended range of frequencies to allow for separation of particles. Use of such efficiency in separation in bio-separation and similar assays is described.

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Loughborough Leicestershire, United Kingdom

Mark Platt