BLOCK COPOLYMER BASED MICELLE FOR EFFICIENT IMMUNOSENSING

This thesis demonstrates the formation of micelles from a block copolymer and the application in establishing the micelle based immunosensing system. The utilization of polymeric micelle as probe container and antibody carrier increases the probe to antibody ratio, which is expected to leads to better detection efficiency. The substrate used in the immunosensing is a porous 0.45 μm PVDF membrane which allows the stable immobilization of proteins. Tetraphenylporphyrin, a hydrophobic fluorescent dye, was chosen as the probe encapsulated in micelles. The block copolymer is a self synthesized α-carboxyl-ω-hydroxyl terminated Poly(ethylene oxide)-Polycaprolactone with carboxyl group on the hydrophilic end, permitting the conjugation of antibody to the micelle surface. We choose mouse IgG and its antibody anti-IgG as the pair of protein conjugates to demonstrate the immunoassay. So far, the detection limit of mouse IgG is 1.5 μg/ml (10-8 M) in this immunosensing system, which is expected to improve by modifying the system.M.S. in Chemistry, December 201