This book offers comprehensive information on all aspects of ELISA, starting with the fundamentals of the immune system. It also reviews the history of analytical assays prior to the advent of ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) and addresses the materials of choice for the fabrication of the platforms, possible biomolecular interactions, different protocols, and evaluation parameters. The book guides readers through the respective steps of the analytical assay, while also familiarizing them with the possible sources of error in the assay. It offers detailed insights into the immobilization techniques used for protein attachment, as well as methods for evaluating the assay and calculating the key parameters, such as sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and limit of detection. In addition, the book explores the advantages and shortcomings of the conventional ELISA, as well as various approaches to improving its performance. In this regard, merging and integrating other technologies with widely known ELISAs have opened new avenues for the advancement of this immunoassay. Accordingly, the book provides cutting-edge information on integrated platforms such as ELISpot, plasmonic ELISAs, sphere-/bead-based ELISAs, paper-/fiber-based ELISAs and ELISA in micro-devices.

There have been very few developments that markedly affect the need to greatly revise the text from the last version of this book. This is testament to the fact that hetero- neous enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) provide ideal systems for dealing with a wide range of studies in many biological areas. The main reason for this success is test flexibility, whereby reactants can be used in different combinations, either attached passively to a solid phase support or in the liquid phase. The exploitation of the ELISA has been increased through continued development of specifically produced reagents, for example, monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies and peptide antigens coupled with the improvement and expansion of commercial products such as enzyme-linked conjugates, substrates and chromogens, plastics technology and design of microwell plates, inst- mentation advances and robotics. However, the principles of the ELISA remain the same. There has been some rearrangement of chapters plus addition of three new ones dealing with charting methods for assessing the indirect ELISA, ruggedness and robustness of tests-aspects of kit use and validation, and internal quality control and external quality management of data, respectively. These reflect the need to control what you are doing with ELISA and to exploit the method to its full extent. I do not apologize for dealing with the same areas in different ways a number of times, as it is imperative that principles are understood to allow planning, operation, and control of ELISA.

The fourth edition of The Immunoassay Handbook provides an excellent, thoroughly updated guide to the science, technology and applications of ELISA and other immunoassays, including a wealth of practical advice. It encompasses a wide range of methods and gives an insight into the latest developments and applications in clinical and veterinary practice and in pharmaceutical and life science research. Highly illustrated and clearly written, this award-winning reference work provides an excellent guide to this fast-growing field. Revised and extensively updated, with over 30% new material and 77 chapters, it reveals the underlying common principles and simplifies an abundance of innovation. The Immunoassay Handbook reviews a wide range of topics, now including lateral flow, microsphere multiplex assays, immunohistochemistry, practical ELISA development, assay interferences, pharmaceutical applications, qualitative immunoassays, antibody detection and lab-on-a-chip. This handbook is a must-read for all who use immunoassay as a tool, including clinicians, clinical and veterinary chemists, biochemists, food technologists, environmental scientists, and students and researchers in medicine, immunology and proteomics. It is an essential reference for the immunoassay industry. Provides an excellent revised guide to this commercially highly successful technology in diagnostics and research, from consumer home pregnancy kits to AIDS testing.www.immunoassayhandbook.com is a great resource that we put a lot of effort into. The content is designed to encourage purchases of single chapters or the entire book. David Wild is a healthcare industry veteran, with experience in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and immunodiagnostics, which remains his passion. He worked for Amersham, Eastman-Kodak, Johnson & Johnson, and Bristol-Myers Squibb, and consulted for diagnostics and biotechnology companies. He led research and development programs, design and construction of chemical and biotechnology plants, and integration of acquired companies. Director-level positions included Research and Development, Design Engineering, Operations and Strategy, for billion dollar businesses. He retired from full-time work in 2012 to focus on his role as Editor of The Immunoassay Handbook, and advises on product development, manufacturing and marketing. - Provides a unique mix of theory, practical advice and applications, with numerous examples - Offers explanations of technologies under development and practical insider tips that are sometimes omitted from scientific papers - Includes a comprehensive troubleshooting guide, useful for solving problems and improving assay performancee - Provides valuable chapter updates, now available on www.immunoassayhandbook.com

This volume is a practical biochemical guide to the Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), used to detect a target substance in a liquid sample. The ELISA is an important and widely used diagnostic tool in medicine, animal health, botany and quality assurance processes in food and beverage production. An introductory chapter orients the reader on the basic structure and function of immunoglobulins and their fragments while subsequent chapters outline the methodology to generate monoclonal antibodies using hybridoma technology and the general methods used to purify antibodies. Multiple chapters demonstrate how to creatively use the properties of the antibody to identify, localize and quantify target analytes to answer questions and resolve problems. The reader will learn how to use a variety of immunoassay strategies, reporters and detection systems that will undoubtedly facilitate their efforts to gain answers to their own questions. Written in the successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible protocols and notes on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and easily accessible, ELISA: Methods and Protocols seeks to provide both professionals and novices with the technical information necessary for the reader to successfully use the immunoassay as part of the discovery process.

John R. Crowther provides today's premier practical guide to the understanding and application of ELISA. Updating and greatly expanding his widely appreciated earlier publication, ELISA Theory and Practice (1995), this important work introduces chapters on such major new topics as checkerboard titrations, quality control of testing, kit production and control, novel monoclonal antibodies, validation of assays, statistical requirements for data examination, and epidemiological considerations. With its numerous worked examples, detailed instructions, and extensive illustrations, The ELISA Guidebook offers a powerful synthesis of all the basic concepts and practical experimental details investigators need to understand, develop, and apply the new ELISA methodology successfully in day-to-day basic and clinical research.

ELISA: Theory and Practice introduces to scientists at all levels of expertise the principles of the most commonly used assay technique known as the Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay. The book provides readers with full descriptions of the basic systems that make ELISA one of the most powerful techniques in science today, and also examines in detail the data obtained by ELISA and their analysis and actual manipulation. ELISA: Theory and Practice is designed not only to train novices in the science of ELISA, but also to aid investigators experienced in any of the biological sciences in performing independently assays of antibodies and antigens. Mastery of the book's contents will allow readers to fully appreciate exactly how and why assays function, as well as permit the efficient development of individual assays that are both rapid and accurate.

Since the age of ten, Mia has rebelled against the iron fist of a fundamentalist preacher who lured her mother away to join a fanatical family of followers. At "Edenton," a supposed Garden of Eden deep in the South American jungle, everyone follows the reverend's strict and arbitrary rules--even about whom they can marry. Mia dreams of slipping away from the armed guards who keep the faithful in and the curious out. When the rebellious Gabe, a new boy, arrives with his family, Mia sees her chance to escape and to free her family. But the scandalous secrets the two discover beyond the compound's facade are more shocking than anything they imagined. While Gabe has his own terrible secrets, he and Mia bond together, more than friend and freedom fighters. But there's no time to think about love as they race against time to stop the reverend's paranoid plan to free his flock--but not himself--from this corrupt world. Can two kids crush a criminal mastermind? And who will die in the fight to save the ones they love from a madman whose only concern is his own secrets?

From the author of the critically acclaimed story collection How This Night Is Different comes a dark, arresting, fearlessly funny story of one young woman's terminal illness. In The Book of Dahlia, Elisa Albert walks a dazzling line between gravitas and irreverence, mining an exhilarating blend of skepticism and curiosity, compassion and candor, high and low culture. Meet Dahlia Finger: twenty-nine, depressed, whip-smart, occasionally affable, bracingly honest, resolutely single, and perennially unemployed. She spends her days stoned in front of the TV, watching the same movies repeatedly, like "a form of prayer." But Dahlia's so-called life is upended by an aggressive, inoperable brain tumor. Stunned and uncomprehending, Dahlia must work toward reluctant emotional reckoning with the aid of a questionable self-help guide. She obsessively revisits the myriad heartbreaks, disappointments, rages, and regrets that comprise the story of her life -- from her parents' haphazard Israeli courtship to her kibbutz conception; from the role of beloved daughter and little sister to that of abandoned, suicidal adolescent; from an affluent childhood in Los Angeles to an aimless existence in the gentrified wilds of Brooklyn; from a girl with "options" to a girl with none -- convinced that cancer struck because she herself is somehow at fault. With her take-no-prisoners perspective, her depressive humor, and her extreme vulnerability, Dahlia Finger is an unforgettable anti-heroine. This staggering portrait of one young woman's life and death confirms Elisa Albert as a "witty, incisive" (Variety) and even "wonder-inducing" writer (Time Out New York).

This is a quick-reference manual on practical aspects of immunoassay. Providing a theoretical and practical basis for modern applications of solid-phase immunoassays, this text brings together experts who have used ELISA and other assays in a variety of fields. Contributors offer step-by-step guidance on how to use the various techniques involved in immunoassay. These techniques are extemely useful to laboratory-based researchers and technicians working on the detection of allergy, the AIDS virus, autoimmunity, etc. Chapters analyze the solid-phase supports used, the amplification systems, and the quantitation and affinity of antibodies and discuss the applications of assays to biology, immunology, and microbiology.

A widely acclaimed young writer's fierce new novel, in which childbirth and new motherhood are as high-stakes a crucible as any combat zone.