title: Microwave-accelerated ultrafast nanoparticle aggregation assays using gold colloids.
abstract: In this paper, the proof of principle of microwave-accelerated aggregation assay technology, which shortens the solution-based aggregation assays' run time to seconds (>100-fold increase in kinetics) with microwave heating, was demonstrated using a model aggregation assay based on the well-known interactions of biotin and avidin. Biotinylated gold colloids were aggregated in solution with the addition of streptavidin, which takes 20 min at room temperature to reach >90% completion and only 10 s with microwave heating. The initial velocity (after 1-s microwave heating) of the biotinylated gold colloids reaches up to 10.5 m/s, which gives rise to greater sampling of the total volume but not a large increase in bulk temperature. The room-temperature, steady-state velocity of the colloids was <0.5 microm/s. In control experiments, where streptavidin preincubated with d-biotin in solution is added to biotinylated gold colloids and microwave heated, gold colloids did not aggregate, demonstrating that nonspecific interactions between biotinylated gold colloids and streptavidin were negligible.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Fluorescence, Laboratory for Advanced Medical Plasmonics, Medical Biotechnology Center, University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, 725 West Lombard Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201, USA.
authors.forename: Kadir
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aslan
authors.forename: Chris D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Geddes
mesh_terms: D001360:Avidin / Q000737:chemistry; D001710:Biotin / Q000737:chemistry; D019921:Biotinylation; D003102:Colloids; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D007700:Kinetics; D008872:Microwaves; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D003102:Colloids; D001360:Avidin; D001710:Biotin; D006046:Gold