%0 Thesis %A Gondhalekar, Carmen %D 2020 %T Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy applications for metal-labeled biomolecule detection in paper assays %U https://hammer.purdue.edu/articles/thesis/Laser-induced_breakdown_spectroscopy_applications_for_metal-labeled_biomolecule_detection_in_paper_assays/12568487 %R 10.25394/PGS.12568487.v1 %2 https://hammer.purdue.edu/ndownloader/files/23514755 %K Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy %K immunoassay procedures %K Material characterization %K Rapid diagnostics %K Portable Biomedical Sensor %K Food contamination %K Biomechanical Engineering %X This doctoral thesis investigates the application of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) for detection of labeled biomolecules on nitrocellulose paper. Nitrocellulose paper is a material often used for assays involving the concentration and labeling of a target analyte, followed by label detection. Among paper-based diagnostics are lateral-flow immuno-assays (LFIAs). Research efforts have made LFIAs into accessible, portable,and low-cost tools for detecting targets such as allergens, toxins,and microbes in food and water.Gold (Au) nanoparticles are standard biomolecular labels among LFIAs, typically detected via colorimetric means.Other labels, such as quantum dots, are also often metallic, and research is ongoing to expand the number of portable instrumentations applied to their detection. A wide diversity of lanthanide-complexed polymers (LCPs) are used as immunoassay labels but have been inapt for portable paper-based assays owing to lab-bound detection instrumentation, until now. LIBS is a multi-element characterization technique which has recently developed from a bench-top to a portable/hand-held analytical tool. This is among the first studies to show that LCPs can be considered as options for biomolecule labels in paper-based assays using bench-based and hand-held LIBS as label detection modalities.