Lateral Flow: A universal tool to teach immunoassay

Lateral Flow Assays (LFAs) or "Rapid tests" became a household word in our recent past. Designed to provide a simple and quick assessment of biomarkers and analytes for health assessment of conditions such as pregnancy, drug usage, illness like the flu etc, rapid tests allow the user or medical professional to determine next steps in patient care. The technology is simple yet they can be surprisingly sensitive, favouring early detection, leading to better care. In this hands-on workshop we will examine the basic types of rapid tests, and show how they can be a platform to illustrate basic immunology and immunoassay concepts, then run a rapid test to determine the metastatic situation of several breast cancer patients.