High-throughput assays plays an important role in many fields, such as bioassays, drug delivery, materials evaluation, anti-counterfeiting, etc. Multiple assays is a kind of reliable method to realize these applications. One promising strategy for multiple assays is encoded microcarriers. Encoded microcarriers are microcarriers encoded by different encoding information, and the encoding information are generally one or a combination of several strategies such as shape and optical encoding. As the encoding information of each microcarrier is unique, the microcarriers could be used to distinguish biomolecules, cells and materials, and to realize multiple detection. In this review, the progress in encoded microcarriers are summarized, and the encoding strategies of the microcarriers are introduced. Their applications in multiple detection, cell culture and capture, drug evaluation, drug delivery and anti-counterfeiting are described in detail. Finally, the strengths and shortcomings, as well as the future development of the encoded microcarriers are discussed.
Contents
1 Introduction
2 Encoding strategies of microcarriers
2.1 Graphics encoding
2.2 Optical encoding
2.3 Others
3 Applications
3.1 Label multiplex bioassays
3.2 Label-free multiplex bioassays
3.3 Cell culture and capture
3.4 Drug evaluation
3.5 Drug delivery
3.6 Anti-counterfeiting
4 Conclusion and outlook