Neutrons shed light on how to make pregnancy tests more sensitive and cheaper
Thursday, September 25, 2014 - 08:20
in Physics & Chemistry
A team of scientists found how to make pregnancy tests more sensitive and cheaper. Thanks to neutrons, they could investigate the interaction between antibody and antigens and the importance of a blocking protein, present in home pregnancy tests. They observed that to achieve the required conditions for an effective test, it is necessary to control the structural orientations of the antibodies immobilised. They also found that to achieve an optimal performance there is no advantage in increasing antibody quantity above a certain level. Thus, neutron studies can help not only control the quality but also reduce cost considerably because antibodies are very expensive.