Learning Objectives

• Describe how immunoassays aid in the diagnosis of disease
• Understand the principles of important immune-based assays including antigen and antibody detection ELISAs and agglutination
• Interpret the results of immunoassays including the significance of Ab “titre”
• Describe the key principles of flow cytometry and how this technique can be used for clinical diagnoses

Immunoassay

• what is an immunoassay?
• what are the 2 general approaches to diagnosing using immunoassays?
• immunoassays are often taken 2 weeks apart, why?
• compare characteristics of a primary vs secondary immune response?
• Interpret Immunoassay Results

Immunodiagnostic Tests

• compare direct vs indirect methods of diagnosis?
• what techniques are used to measure immune responses?
• what are some common immunodiagnostic formats?
• what are 2 specialised techniques?

Titre & Antiserum

• what is an Ab titre?
• how do you determine a titre?