Symposium 1997: Abstract for R Massey

Symposium 1997: Abstracts

Electrochemiluminescence-Based Assays: An Overview Of Applications for the Food, Water and Pharmaceutical Industries.

Richard Massey
IGEN International, Inc., 16020 Industrial Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20877, USA

Origen technology developed by IGEN is based on electrochemiluminescence and has been incorporated into instruments and assays using antibodies, nucleic acids and receptors. It employs a ruthenium chelate which, in the presence of tripropylamine, is oxidized and reduced at an electrode surface to generate light. Approximately 104 molecules of ruthenium tris-bipyridyl can be easily detected by electrochemiluminescence. Ruthenium chelates can be readily coupled to proteins and nucleic acids for use in a variety of assay formats. Many of the assay formats use paramagnetic micro-beads, which act as the solid phase for binding reactions and facilitate rapid assay kinetics. These assays offer superior performance in terms of low-level analyte detection, wide dynamic range, and the elimination of wash steps typical for heterogeneous assays.

Immunoassays for proteins, such as thyroid-stimulating hormone and human chorionic gonadotropin, have been developed and exhibit a dynamic range of five orders of magnitude, detection limits in the 10-15 molar range and assay kinetics (time to result) under ten minutes. Assays for detecting DNA at subpicogram levels have been developed.

Systems based on Origen electrochemiluminescence technology are being used in clinical and veterinary diagnostics, pharmaceutical research such as screening chemical libraries, and developing immunoassays for preclinical and clinical research purposes. The system is robust and generally not affected by the sample matrix, also making it ideally suited for measuring pathogens in food and water samples. An assay for detecting Cryptosporidium in sludge and exceeding current guidelines for detection has been developed.

The technology provides a broad base for developing systems that serve diverse markets that have significantly different requirements related to cost, portability, ease of use and assay performance.

Origen® and IGEN® are registered trademarks owned by IGEN International, Inc.