Production of lateral flow diagnostic kits using gold nanoparticle adsorption to antibodies

Antibody conjugation for point of care diagnostics

It is generally accepted in industry that having control over a process can increase efficiency and reduce losses. There are, however, many industries where control over sterility in particular is not practicable at scale. The aquaculture industry cannot control the pathogens present in wild waters and the brewing industry cannot sterilise all inputs into their beer.

Challenge

The Antibody Company (TAC) has expertise in point of care diagnostics for the aquaculture and brewing industries, which both suffer significant product losses. Current diagnostics for these industries are prohibitively expensive and take too long allow immediate mitigation. TAC combined their expertise in antibody design and production with Dr. Mulheran and his team’s skills in antibody conjugation to design a cheap and effective lateral flow device (LFD).

Solution

The team developed antibodies to beer spoilage bacteria and used a novel conjugation technology to couple the antibodies to gold nanoparticles. Subsequent funding has allowed the technology to be further developed allowing TAC to produce kits at an acceptable cost for the brewing industry.

Outcome

This project brought in house two significant technologies for TAC; gold nanoparticle conjugation and LFD development. These technologies provide the potential for additional product, expanding TAC’s offering to new markets. The project also allowed the development of further partnering opportunities with the Dr Mulheran and his team at Strathclyde University.