Company Profile:
Since its founding in 1982, Quantum Design has served the materials research community. Our worldwide customer base consists of physicists, chemists, and materials scientists in universities, government labs, and private labs.
Quantum Design’s specialty is magnetic measurements.
Our core products are platform systems used to characterize properties of materials over a wide range of temperatures and magnetic fields. Recognized as experts in making sensitive magnetic measurements, we saw the need for a quantitative assay platform based on magnetic particle detection for the biotechnology market.
Magnetic Particle Detection:
Magnetic particles are in wide use as a separation technique. Our goal was to build a portable system using superparamagnetic particles as a reporter. The advantages can be summarized as:
- Superparamagnetic particles are magnetic only when in a magnetic field. This allows them to mix freely in a solution.
- Magnetic particles are stable, allowing reproducible measurements and long term storage.
- The inherent linearity of magnetic detection contributes to sensitivity, accuracy, and dynamic range.
- Superparamagnetic particles are physically similar to colloidal gold and may be easily adapted to existing format and chemistry techniques such as lateral flow membranes and sandwich assays.
Magnetic Assay Reader:
Quantum Design has designed a viable magnetic detection platform. The Magnetic Assay Reader (MAR) provides quantification of biochemical analytes via the detection of superparamagnetic particles. These particles are bound to the analyte, for example, in a sandwich assay format. The detector measures the local magnetic field expressed by the total mass of iron in the sample region. Then, by way of an empirically established calibration curve (based on the mass of iron, Fe3O4, per particle and the number of binding sites), this value may be correlated to the number of molecules of interest.
Current prototypes are operated through a palm-top or lap-top computer system. In its final form, it is anticipated that it will incorporate a dedicated, embedded microprocessor for control and data processing.
MAR
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Mission:
Quantum Design seeks to develop the Magnetic Assay Reader detection platform through an alliance with a corporate partner. If you are interested and wish to receive more information on assay formats, please contact us at MagAssay@qdusa.com.
