Dual-signal lateral flow assay using vancomycin-modified nanotags for rapid and sensitive detection of Staphylococcus aureus

This paper reports a colorimetric-fluorescent dual-signal lateral flow assay (LFA) based on vancomycin (Van)-modified SiO2–Au-QD tags for sensitive and quantitative detection of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). The combination of high-performance Van-tags and detection antibodies integrated into the LFA system produced assays with high sensitivity and specificity. The visualization limit of the colorimetric signal and the detection limit of the fluorescence signal of the proposed method for S. aureus can reach 104 and 100 cells mL−1, respectively.