Patent ID: 8334107

Claim:
An assay for detecting an antigen, which comprises: (a) providing a lipid bilayer coated bead that displays a binding agent, wherein a detectable label is encapsulated by the lipid bilayer; (b) linking a ligand to a selected antigen in a test sample to generate a test antigen-ligand conjugate, wherein the ligand will bind to the binding agent displayed by the bead; (c) contacting the test antigen-ligand conjugate with an antibody to from an antibody-antigen-ligand complex that, when exposed to a substrate, produces a product that disrupts the lipid bilayer due to catalytic activity of the antibody in the antibody-antigen-ligand complex; (d) contacting the bead with the antibody-antigen-ligand complex to form an antibody-antigen-ligand-bead complex; (e) removing unbound antibody; (f) exposing the remaining antibody to the substrate; and (f) observing whether a signal from the detectable label is altered.