Microwave heating has found its way into a wide range of applications in various disciplines, including food industry chemical synthesis, drug discovery, bactericidal and fungicidal sterilization and most recently rapid bioassays. In this work, we have developed a small and portable monomode microwave cavity powered by an external and solid-state microwave generator to be used in the applications of Microwave-Accelerated Bioassays (MAB) technique. We have also designed novel circular bioassay platforms with 21-, 94- and 204-well sample capacity, which were modified with silver nanoparticle films (SNF) for use with our monomode microwave cavity. The circular bioassay platforms and the monomode microwave cavity are designed for on-site and rapid analysis of biological and environmental samples. We present the results of two sandwich-ELISA for shigatoxin (STX1) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) performed using our system and compare the results obtained to the “gold standard” ELISA carried out without microwave heating (i.e., conventional technique). Our results show that ELISA for STX1 and GFAP can be completed in less than 5 minutes using the MAB technique, as compared to 5 hours using the conventional technique. The lower level detection and the dynamic range in both MAB technique and the conventional technique were similar, which proves the effectives of the new tools developed for MAB technique.

Rapid and sensitive assessment of biological and environmental samples using microwave-accelerated bioassay technique

249th National Meeting (2015)

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