Disk-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays using the liquid-aliquoting and siphoning-evacuation technique

Abstract

A cost-effective way to carry out multiple enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) on a centrifugal platform using the liquid-aliquoting and siphoning-evacuation (LASE) technique was developed in this paper. Instead of preloading all the reagents in the reservoirs before testing, each reagent was loaded only one time during testing. The reagent was distributed into equal aliquots and delivered into reaction chambers by the aliquoting fluidic function. In addition, a siphoning-evacuation technique was developed to improve the washing efficiency and simplify the assay protocol. Furthermore, the entire assay protocol can be conducted using a two-step spinning protocol, which greatly reduces the cost of the motor control system. With the LASE technique, a low-cost and user-friendly ELISA system can be achieved.