Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

My partner and I have decided to create an experiment based on whether a home kit can be created to detect Alzheimer's Disease at an earlier stage.
Is there an ELISA test that can detect beta-amyloid proteins and tau proteins?
We would really appreciate any responses.

Hi,

That's a great project idea! I did find some ELISA kits that detect human beta amyloid proteins. These kits are for research use only - they haven't been approved for use as a diagnostic tool.

http://www.millipore.com/catalogue/item/ezbrain40

http://www.antibodies-online.com/kit/36 ... -42+ELISA/

I am sure there are more. Let me know if you have trouble finding anything else you need.

Tonya

Thank you so much Tonya!
We have done the ELISA test for pregnancy in our class and our teacher can supply us with the ELISA test wells, what do kind of anitbody would we need to detect the proteins?
Where can we detect the proteibs from the body besides braiun tissues?

Hi,

Have a look at the Millipore product I linked in the previous post. They provide alot of information about the product - including some information about the antibodies used in the kit. Use those terms to search their website (or google, or other life science suppliers) to see if you can find the antibodies you will need.

Do you understand how the ELISA works so you can select the right antibodies?

That's a great project. Tonya

Hi,

This is a really unique and challenging idea for a science project. Unfortunately, I don’t know of any source of the beta-amyloid protein, other than human or animal brain. It would be difficult to obtain the samples you need for testing. This would probably require contacting a researcher working on an animal model for this disease who could provide you with the brain samples. Working with the animals directly would require prior approval from your local scientific review committee:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... mals.shtml

For an ELISA assay, you would need a monoclonal antibody to beta amyloid to use as a primary antibody and a secondary antibody with a tag that would react with the first antibody, plus reagents to develop the color. Here is a protocol for developing your own ELISA assay, either competitive or sandwich assay.

http://www.cpet.ufl.edu/bestpractices/P ... ssumed.pdf

Here is an example of a source for your primary antibody. Try searching for “beta amyloid monoclonal antibody.”

http://www.cpet.ufl.edu/bestpractices/P ... ssumed.pdf

Here are examples of secondary antibodies with different tags that would react with rabbit or goat primary antibodies. Find more sites by searching for “secondary antibodies.”

http://rockland-inc.com/secondary-antibodies.aspx

Here is a company that specializes in providing pure amyloid peptides, which you will need to establish a standard curve and a positive control for your assay. Try searching for “amyloid peptides.”

http://www.anaspec.com/products/product ... asp?id=908

Please post again if you have any specific questions; developing an ELISA assay requires careful optimizing of a standard curve.

It would be possible to develop an ELISA assay for a different protein if you are unable to obtain suitable samples for testing.

Please let us know if you have any questions.


Donna Hardy

Thank you so much for your help! It has really helped in my experiment.

Thank you Donna for the detailed help!