Ultrasensitive Detection of Chemical Substances
Abstract
Our proposal 'Ultrasensitive Detection of Chemical Substances' submitted to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in September 1983, proposed the development of an ultrasensitive detection system for chemical agents of small molecular size. This system would have an increase in sensitivity over current immunological detection systems and would allow acquisition of information which cannot be obtained with current detection sensitivities. Our approach to ultrasensitive detection is characterized by trapping a molecule of interest (ligand) with a trapping molecule and then specifically identifying the complex with an antibody that carries an easily measured signal. In principal this method shares many common points with so-called 'sandwich' assays where the ligand is trapped initially by a first antibody and identified with a second antibody. There is, however, one important difference. Our trapping molecule is not an antibody, but rather an enzyme, AChE, which is the target for organophosphate toxins. This enzyme is inactivated by organophosphate toxins by covalent irreversible binding of the toxin. Thus AChE traps the molecules (organophosphates) that we intend to detect. This method of trapping and localizing molecules has several advantages over typical sandwich assays, one of the most important being the ability to detect chemical species of small size.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 1984
- Accession Number
- ADA150048
Entities
People
- Roger Dean
Organizations
- University of New Mexico