What is Lateral Flow Immunoassay (LFIA?)

Lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA), also known as lateral flow assay (LFA), lateral flow device (LFD) is a solid phase, rapid test technology, performed on a strip. It is used to confirm the absence or presence of a specific analyte, such as a biomarker in the body of a living thing. The technology works by colored nanoparticles on human antibodies and nitrocellulose membranes to achieve the target results. These devices are generally designed to adapt the user protocols since minimal training in their usage is incorporated. A major part of LFIA applications lies in clinical analysis. It includes detection of a variety of clinical analytes in plasma, serum, urine, cells, tissues and other biological samples. The most commonly known application of this assay is the pregnancy test. 

The advantages of LFIA include:

• rapidity and one step analysis
• low operational cost
• simple and user-friendly format
• less or no interferences due to chromatographic separation
• high specificity
• better sensitivity
• portability of the device