Our Technology
Metal Enhanced Fluorescence
Metal Enhanced Fluorescence (MEF) offers the possibility to dramatically increase the analytical sensitivity of systems based on fluorescence detection. MEF is based on the fact that excitation light interacts with the electrons of metal nano–structures thus generating very high electromagnetic fields (Localised Surface Plasmons, LSPs ) Therefore, such structures are also called ”plasmonic structures” and the combination of (e.g, polymeric) support and structure is known as “plasmonic substrate”.
These LSPs lead to an increase in emission output of fluorescent molecules (e.g. fluorescently labelled antibodies) when bound to surfaces with suitable nano-metal structures that can enhance the signal more than 100 times.
Technology
Previous attempts to industrially implement this technology in the diagnostic industry failed due to irreproducibility of the nano-metal structures, the incompatibility with standard methods used in diagnostic laboratories and the lack of availability of suitable immunoassays. FIANOSTICS has solved the problem of reproducibility in cooperation with Sony DADC BioSciences (since July 1st 2016 STRATEC CONSUMABLES), since for the production of plasmonic structures highly reproducible, proprietary technologies from Sony DADC BioSciences (since July 1st 2016 STRATEC CONSUMABLES) are used that are well established in Blue Ray Disc production.
100 % Compatibility with the 96-Well Microtiter Format
Compatibility with standard laboratory methodology is ensured by the choice of the format in which FIANOSTICS is offering its immunoassays. Basically, the developed plasmonic structures can be used in all analytical formats (e.g, rapid tests, biosensors, micro-fluidic or lab-on-a-chip systems ) in which fluorescence detection is applied. FIANOSTICS has however opted for 100 % compatibility with the 96-well microtiter format, as this is still widely used in clinical research and allows running our assays on any standard fluorescent micro-plate reader.
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FIAt Lux
Depending on the fluorophore used, these structures allow up to 300-fold signal gains, which is well beyond the gains that can, for example, be achieved with plasmonic structures that are based on colloids.
