Automated 10-channel capillary chip immunodetector for biological agents detection

The automated 10-channel capillary chip immunodetector (10K-IDWG) is a prototype, which has been developed for automatically operated biological agents (BA) point detection. The current technology uses a chemiluminescence capillary immunoassay (EIA) technique in combination with integrated microfluidics and allows the highly sensitive and rapid detection and preliminary identification of multiple BA in aqueous solutions in the laboratory. The chemiluminescence capillary EIA are performed within a disposable capillary chip containing 10 fused-silica capillaries arranged in parallel coated with selected capture antibodies. A multianode-photomultiplier array is used to detect chemiluminescence intensity in each capillary. Reservoirs for reagents and buffers and a waste disposal reservoir are integrated. This paper describes the technology of the 10K-IDWG and its evaluation with three different BA, the toxin staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB), the bacterial analyte Escherichia coli (E. coli) O157:H7 as a model for bacterial pathogens, and the bacteriophage M13 as a model for virus pathogens. The 10K-IDWG is able to detect the above mentioned three BA in an aqueous sample within 29 min (single analyte-detection and multiplexing). Limits of detection (LOD) are 0.1 ng/ml for SEB, 10(exp 4) cfu/ml for E. coli O157:H7, and 5 x 10(exp 5) pfu/ml for M13. Cross reactivities between the three assays were not observed.