Improvement of sensitivity of multisample biological immunoassay system using HTS SQUID and magnetic nanoparticles

Abstract Recently, we have developed a prototype magnetic immunoassay system using a high temperature superconductor (HTS) superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) to investigate the performance and usability of the magnetic immunoassay. In this study, we improved the immunoassay system to heighten the sensitivity of the immunoassay measurement. To reduce the SQUID-to-sample distance, we introduced a structure to compensate for thermal shrinkage in the cryostat and reduce the warpage of the window. The shape of pickup coil was also optimized to improve the field sensitivity. After these improvements, the magnetic signal intensity from Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles became about two times stronger than that achieved by our original system.