e2v to Establish Next Generation Biosensor System Using AbD Serotec-generated HuCAL Antibodies
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AbD Serotec and its customer e2v biosensors, a subsidiary of e2v technologies plc, have launched a research program to establish e2v’s proprietary biosensor system Visucare™, a detection technology for biomarkers using a single-antibody immunoassay. The Visucare™ system will be used for protein quantification in point of care and near patient testing.
e2v biosensors and AbD Serotec began an initial project in September 2006, bringing together e2v’s platform technology and AbD’s leading recombinant antibody technology HuCAL. AbD Serotec has since generated a series of specifically designed recombinant antibodies suitable for e2v to perform feasibility studies showing proof-of-concept of the Visucare™ approach.
Lying at the heart of the e2v technology is Surface Enhanced Resonance Raman Spectroscopy (SERRS), an electromagnetic surface sensitive technique which provides for the detection of single molecules binding to a silver surface.
The key biomolecular construct of Visucare™ comprises three main components: A HuCAL-based antibody, a reporter SERRS dye linked to peptide and a silver surface supporting the electromagnetic field. The HuCAL based antibody is immobilized on a silver surface. The SERRS dye peptide is bound to the HuCAL antibody and thus held outside the electromagnetic field. In the presence of a protein biomarker the SERRS dye peptide is displaced allowing it to bind directly to the silver surface within the electromagnetic field and ultimately giving rise to the SERRS signal.
Unlike existing technologies, Visucare™ does not need an antibody pair to detect the respective biomarker. Instead it uses a single antibody in a displacement format and thus does not require any washing or incubation steps enabling a simple to use system with results in less than 10 minutes.
Additionally, the system allows the monitoring of biomarkers inaccessible to other systems and at very low levels of detection. e2v biosensors has secured substantial intellectual property through 2 issued and a further 11 pending patent families.
