“The discovery of immunoassay was part mathematics, part physics and part biology. I learned about biology from Sol (Solomon Berson) and he learned about physics from me.”
– Rosalyn Yalow, co-inventor of radio-immunoassay and Nobel Laureate for Physiology or Medicine in 1977.
Rosalyn Yalow played a crucial role in the development of the core technology that became the multi-billion-dollar immunoassay industry. From the very beginning, she understood that the development of immunoassays demanded a collaborative approach and proficiency in numerous disciplines.
Fast forward almost 60 years since the publication of the groundbreaking Yalow and Berson paper on the immunoassay of endogenous plasma insulin1, this principle is more relevant than ever.
For instance, when it comes to developing a lateral flow assay system, one must possess knowledge in immunology, organic chemistry, materials science, fundamental biology, fluid dynamics, plastics, physics, biophysics, and optics. Additionally, a profound understanding of mechanical and design engineering, molding, manufacturing process design, and various other disciplines are required to transform a conceptual assay into a usable, reproducible, robust, commercial product. This doesn’t even take into account regulation, trials, quality systems, user experience studies, validation, and so on!
This might explain why there are limited places to learn how to develop commercial lateral flow products outside of a few industrial sources like DCN Dx. With this technology, experience is invaluable when developing a product that can be robustly manufactured and produced to meet specifications in high volume. It’s challenging to find people who are willing to share the benefits of their hard-earned experience. Consequently, it’s tough to break into this industry from scratch or even enhance our knowledge base when we’re already in it!
At DCN Dx, we understand that fact, which is why we make such an effort to provide education and training services to the industry alongside our development services. We’ve taken an approach that many through the years have deemed counter-intuitive—an OEM company that actually teaches others how to do what it does. How crazy is that?
We believe that our clients place immense trust in our promise of delivery. Part of building and maintaining that trust is transparency, and information transfer is an essential aspect of transparency. We have always aimed to help, in good faith, build this market and make our clients successful. As the market grows, so do we. That’s why we offer various educational offerings for lateral flow technology for our clients.
The Basic Lateral Flow Training is a three-day, hands-on course that combines interactive lectures from our assay scientists and engineers, with guided, practical experience in our laboratory. Limited to 12 participants and run only a handful of times a year, this training sells out fast! We also offer a custom version of this course that is tailored to an individual IVD developer’s needs. Contact us for more information.
It’s also why we organize the Advanced Lateral Flow Conference (ALFC), originally with our partners at QIAGEN Lake Constance and now with more than 30 partners from the lateral flow supply chain. This 2-day seminar is designed to educate the industry on the best lateral flow development and manufacturing practices. You can learn more about sponsoring here and attending here.
Collaboration and cooperation are essential to success in this industry. It really does take a village to bring a high performance lateral flow test to the market. Come meet the neighbors.
- Yalow, RS; Berson, SA (1960). “Immunoassay of endogenous plasma insulin in man”. J Clin Invest 39: 1157–75. doi:1172/JCI104130. PMC441860. PMID 13846364.
