A comparison of mono and multivalent linkers and their effect on the colloidal stability of nanoparticle and immunoassays performance.

When designing devices for biomedical diagnostics, increasing the signal to noise ratio is often critical for achieving clinically relevant sensitivity and limits of detection (LOD). In antibody-based assays, the measured signal can be amplified through the replacement of molecular fluorophores with doped nanoparticles (NP). However, the benefits of using NPs can only be realized if the NPs are coated efficiently with detection antibody, have good colloidal stability and the ratio of specific to non-specific binding (NSB) is high enough.