A sandwich assay for procalcitonin detection in POCT applications

A plastic biochip was developed for the detection of procalcitonin (PCT) and consists of a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) chip shaped in order to achieve several flow microchannels. A sandwich assay using a new antibody pairs is implemented with the capture antibody immobilized on the PMMA surface and the target antibody labelled with a fluorophore. A laser diode excites the fluorescent sensing layer. Thanks to the anisotropy of the fluorescence the emitted light travels along the thickness of the plastic material. The fluorescence coming out from the chip is collected by 1 mm plastic optical fibre and detected with a spectrum analyser.