Scientific Publications by FDA Staff

Microfluid Nanofluidics 2016 Dec;20(12):167

Development of carbon dot based microplate and microfluidic chip immunoassay for rapid and sensitive detection of HIV-1 p24 antigen.

Chunduri LAA, Haleyurgirisetty MK, Patnaik S, Bulagonda PE, Kurdekar A, Liu J, Hewlett IK, Kamisetti V

A highly sensitive, precisely specific, environmentally friendly, high-throughput, microwell-plate and microchip-based sandwich assay was developed to detect HIV-1 p24 antigen, a protein biomarker using fluorescent carbon dots. High quantum yield carbon dots were synthesized using citric acid and ethylenediamine as carbon and nitrogen sources by a single-step hydrothermal reaction. The desired amine groups confirmed by FTIR on the carbon dots were coupled to streptavidin by amine-amine coupling reaction using glutaraldehyde. The detection range of the carbon dot based immunoassay (CDIA) was found to be between 20 and 1000 pg/mL in a linear dose-dependent manner. CDIA tested for HIV negative plasma samples showed no false positive results in the detection of HIV-1 p24 antigen. The CDIA was extended to develop a microfluidic carbon dot immunoassay (mu CDIA) which exhibited analytical sensitivity in the range of 30-1000 pg/mL. The CDIA and mu CDIA can easily be adapted to a labon- a-chip platform for use in resource limited settings and can also be multiplexed for the detection of other pathogens like TB and Hepatitis.