The Development of Novel Miniaturized Immuno-sensing Devices: A Review of a Small Technology with a Large Future

Abstract

Miniaturized screening devices (MSDs) are an emerging technology with a variety of possible applications e.g., detection of diseases, analysis of antibiotics or illicit drugs. MSDs include a variety of different working principles and components. They are generally referred to in the literature as biochips, nanochips, micro-arrays, µTas systems and high throughput screening devices. They consist of a miniaturized device or ‘chip’ with different probes immobilized on the surface that may carry out multiplex analysis (i.e., detection of genes, proteins, illicit or novel drugs etc.,). Such a device is envisaged to be fully autonomous, incorporating micro-fluidics and appropriate means of signal transduction. The vast majority of MSDs that have been developed, to date, are based on DNA probes. DNA-based arrays have been generated to analyse genomes, detect diseases e.g., cancer, and cellular responses to various stimuli e.g., carcinogens, at the genetic level. MSDs may provide a relatively inexpensive, rapid and user-friendly method of diagnosis. However, there is an increasing shift in research toward proteomic analysis, yielding MSDs that incorporate protein probes e.g., antibodies, for the detection of a much wider range of compounds. The specificity and relative ease of production of antibodies facilitate their use as ideal probes for the development of the ‘lab on a chip’ or µTas system. In this review, particular emphasis will be on optical based MSDs with antibody probes and their future application in the developing fields of point-of-care testing (POCT), µTas systems and high throughput screening (HTS). There are further sub-divisions of this nomenclature depending on the biological components or probes they may contain and the method of signal transduction that they utilize.

Keywords:

• Miniaturized screening devices
• Biochips
• Nanochips
• Microarrays
• TAS
• Point-of-care testing

Acknowledgment

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Enterprise Ireland and the Higher Education Authority (HEA) Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI) Cycle One.