Demand in diagnostic assays is greatest for reagents with sensitivity better than can be achieved with organic fluorescent molecules. It is generally recognized that luminescent lanthanide reporters have shown great promise for increased sensitivity via time-gated measurement, but development of bright and stable metal reporters has lagged. Lumiphore’s mix-and-read assay technology leverages similar macrocyclic bifunctional chelators as employed in TRTs. These fluorescent mBFC reporters are attached to antibodies used in time-resolved Förster resonance energy transfer (TR-FRET) tests and assays. This technology produces very high sensitivity, eliminates background noise, eliminates labor-intensive steps (just mix-and read), and has been adapted to large laboratory operations all the way down to the doctor’s office point-of-care testing. The company’s benefits of MBFCs to metal fluorescence diagnostics and assays over current fluorescent systems are: High sensitivity Long lifetimes and high quantum yields yield time-resolved measurement with high signal-to-noise (improved sensitivity) that is competitive with traditional fluorophores. Multiplexing: more data density per assay unit Compounds are compatible with TR-FRE assay formats with demonstrated pentaplex capabilities. Elimination of quenching A large Stokes Shift (gap between excitation and emission energies) means mBFCs are not as susceptible to self-quenching and easily tunes optics with wide transmissions. Recovery of information from archives Resistance to photo bleaching allows archiving of samples for improved quality control and for comparisons between old and new data.
