Uniform Polymer Microspheres

for Diagnostic Assays

            PolyMicrospheres takes pride in providing the highest quality microspheres for our customers in clinical diagnostics.  Since its founding in 1990, PolyMicrospheres has become the recognized leader in microparticle development and innovation.

            With decades of research experience in polymer science, process engineering, and microparticle technology, PolyMicrospheres is the pioneer in the creation of uniform polymer microspheres specifically designed for diagnostic assays.  Using state-of-the-art facilities and the most innovative polymerization techniques, we develop and manufacture a complete line of uniform microspheres with a variety of particle sizes and surface chemistries.  In addition, we offer semi-custom and custom microspheres, optimized and fine-tuned with the proper surface morphology and the correct level of functionality to suit your application.

            Our emphasis has been on the innovation of new products through dedicated research.  The precision and accuracy of our techniques, together with computerized formulations, GMP and ISO9001 certified manufacturing practices, provide the highest quality and constantly reproducible microspheres with the best distribution of size, functionality, and morphology.  We are equipped with numerous custom-designed glass/glass-lined reactors and process controllers to produce up to 400 liters of microspheres in a single production run.

            We are specialized in developing cutting-edge technologies for the new millennium.  We are devoted to fostering the development of new diagnostic assays and kits.

            We look forward to providing your organization with a truly competitive edge.

Buy from PolyMicrospheres, where the microparticles are designed, developed and manufactured.

Products

Carbproducts

Choices for covalent coupling to Carboxyl microspheres:

• Carboxyl microspheres
  More than 100 products
  The right particle size with correct level of COOH groups (40 to 400 µEq/g of carboxyl groups) for best coupling efficiency

• Near-Soap-Free™  Carboxyl microspheres
  Very low surfactant levels (from 0.01% to 0.05%)

• SpaceLink™ microspheres
  Flexible spacer arms (~10A°) and linker groups already attached for the covalent coupling of ligands, especially for bulky ligands
  Improved kinetics of agglutination reactions

• Specialty Carboxyl with steric effects
  Minimize nonspecific binding

• Hydrophilic Carboxyl microspheres
  Enhance stability and reactivity

• Omni-Bind™ Lipophilic Carboxyl microspheres
  Better coupling efficiency
  Improved visibility of the agglutinates

• Low-density Carboxyl microspheres
  Designed to reduce settling
  Faster reactivity

• Non-polystyrene Carboxyl microspheres
  Reduce nonspecific binding

• High-density Carboxyl microspheres

• Soap-Free Carboxyl microspheres

• Fluorescent and Dyed Carboxyl microspheres: in all of the above product lines

ReadytoCoupleproducts

Choices for simple one-step covalent coupling to microspheres (preactivated):

• Ready-to-Couple™ Chloromethyl microspheres
  Already preactivated and ready for easy one-step covalent coupling
  High stability and long shelf life

• Ready-to-Couple™ Epoxy microspheres
  Already preactivated and ready for simple one-step coupling
  High stability and long shelf life

• Please refer to the Coupling Guidelines for Chloromethyl and Epoxy microspheres

Choices for binding to Plain-Surface microspheres:

• Polystyrene microspheres
  More than fifty products
  Optimized levels of sulfate groups for stabilization and best passive adsorption

• Lightly Hydrophilic Polystyrene microspheres
  Enhance passive adsorption and reactivity

• Omni-Bind™ Lipophilic Plain-Surface microspheres
  Better adsorption/binding efficiency
  Improved visibility of the agglutinates

• Low-density Plain-surface microspheres
  Designed to reduce settling
  Faster reactivity

• Non-polystyrene Plain-surface microspheres
  Reduce nonspecific binding

• High-density microspheres

• Soap-Free Polystyrene microspheres

• Fluorescent and Dyed Polystyrene microspheres: in all of the above product lines

Otherproducts

Other microspheres:

• SupraMag™ superparamagnetic microparticles
  Highly attractive and with amino, chloromethyl, and sulfhydryl functional groups

• Precleaned microspheres: available in all of the above products on order

• Solvent-resistant microspheres

• Custom and semi-custom microspheres to your exact specs

• Particle size and calibration standards

• Specialty microspheres for imaging, FPD, and LCD applications

• Large microbeads: sizes from 40 µM to 2000 µM

• Biodegradable microsphere-based drug delivery systems for pharmaceutical, biomedical, & biotech applications

        We fine-tune diagnostic microspheres for the right size and surface chemistry and the correct level of functionality to suit your specific application. We welcome the opportunity to be a part of your diagnostic development and manufacturing program.

Carboxyl Products

Carboxyl Microspheres

        Our high degree of specialization and expertise in microparticle technology enabled us to concentrate on all aspects of carboxyl microspheres. An enormous amount of research work has been focused on the development of every possible carboxyl microsphere for diagnostic assays. Within each size, we offer different levels of functionality to provide a range of selectivity, sensitivity, and specificity as desired for each application.

• More than 100 products - various sizes and surface charge densities

• Optimized levels of carboxyl and sulfate groups for maximum coupling efficiency

• Very uniform surface morphology and even distribution of functional groups

• Can be used without precleaning for most applications

• Highly uniform, stable, and reproducible

• Fluorescent and Dyed microspheres: Available in selected sizes

Near-Soap-Free™ Carboxyl Microspheres

        PolyMicrospheres innovative process technology has led to the development of a novel product line, “Near-Soap-Free” carboxyl microspheres with high MW. The surface chemistry is similar to conventional microspheres, very uniform and stable, but with very little surfactants.

• Better than soap-free microparticles with no residual monomer and with optimum amount of sulfate groups

• The very little surfactant level with a novel process technology provides stability and uniformity throughout the polymerization

• Surfactant levels of the products are very low (from 0.01% to 0.05%) and do not require clean up

• Optimized levels of carboxyl groups and uniform surface morphology for maximum coupling efficiency

• Highly uniform, stable, and reproducible

• Fluorescent and Dyed microspheres: Available in selected sizes

• We also make it to your exact specs

SpaceLink™ Carboxyl Microspheres

        SpaceLink™ Carboxyl Microspheres are perfect immunodiagnostic reagent particles with a spacer-linker already attached to the microspheres. The length of the flexible spacer arm is ~10A°. The end of the spacer arm has a carboxyl group for covalent attachment of ligands. The second generation of SpaceLink microspheres have been developed and tested at ß-sites for best coupling efficiency.

The benefits of SpaceLink™ Carboxyl mmcrospheres include:

• Almost all of the ligands coupled to the microspheres will be in an active form

• Conformational changes or orientation problems of the ligands are minimized when the ligands are located away from the surface of the particles

• Higher level of sensitivity compared to direct surface coupling; Lesser amount of ligand needed to get the required sensitivity

• The flexible spacer arms improve the kinetics of agglutination reactions and reactivity of each coupled ligand by keeping the ligands away from the surface of the particles

• Antigen/antibody recognition sites line up much more easily

• The flexible spacer arms greatly reduce steric hindrance problems

• We also make it to your exact specs

• Also available: SpaceLink Hydroxyl microspheres

Specialty Carboxyl with steric effects

        These microspheres are designed with bulky groups to minimize passive adsorption and reduce non-specific binding.

Hydrophilic Carboxyl microspheres

        These microspheres are designed to enhance stability and reactivity.

Omni-Bind™ Lipophilic Carboxyl Microspheres

        Our innovative process technology and formulations have led to the development of novel lipophilic (lipid incorporated/coated) carboxyl microspheres.   These microspheres have been developed with optimized levels of different lipids to increase the coupling efficiency of various proteins.

• The lipophilic microspheres contour to the conformation of the proteins for better coupling efficiency and improved visibility of the agglutinates

• We also make it to your exact specs

Low-Density Carboxyl Microspheres

        Our innovative process technology and formulations have led to the development of novel low-density carboxyl microspheres.  

• Optimized levels of carboxyl and sulfate groups for maximum coupling efficiency

• Highly uniform, stable, and reproducible

• Designed to reduce settling

Non-polystyrene Carboxyl microspheres

        These microspheres are designed to reduce non-specific binding and are easy to centrifuge.

High-Density Carboxyl Microspheres

Soap-Free Carboxyl Microspheres

        Our distinctive soap-free carboxyl microspheres have the following unique features:

• Optimum sulfate and carboxyl groups to stabilize the microparticles

• Innovative process technology and formulation provide stability and uniformity throughout the polymerization

• Optimized levels of carboxyl groups and uniform surface morphology for maximum coupling efficiency. No excess sulfate groups to interfere with coupling chemistry.

• No residual monomer

• Very uniform, stable, and reproducible

• Fluorescent and Dyed microspheres:  Available in selected sizes

• We also make it to your exact specs

Fluorescent / Dyed Carboxyl Microspheres

Standard Colors:   Fluorescent Yellow, Blue, Red, Hot Pink, Pink, Violet, Coral, Lavender, and other colors

We can also dye any product in this catalog to the color of your choice.

Ready-to-Couple Products

Ready-to-Couple™ Chloromethyl Microspheres

        PolyMicrospheres proprietary formulations and innovative process technology have led to the development of highly stable and very uniform chloromethyl microspheres. These ready-to-couple microspheres are perfect diagnostic particles with activated groups already attached to the microspheres.

• Preactivated and ready for covalent coupling

• Just adjust the pH and stir at room temp

• High stability and long shelf life

• Simple one-step coupling chemistry

• Optimized levels of chloromethyl groups and uniform surface morphology for maximum coupling efficiency

• Highly uniform, stable, and reproducible

• We also make it to your exact specs

• Refer to the coupling procedure

Note: Chloromethyl is the best choice for simple one-step covalent coupling to microspheres

Ready-to-Couple™ Epoxy Microspheres

        PolyMicrospheres proprietary formulations and innovative process technology have led to the development of preactivated and very stable epoxy microspheres for easy covalent coupling. The epoxy microspheres are ready-to-couple diagnostic particles with activated groups already attached to the microspheres.

• Preactivated and ready for covalent coupling

• Fast and easy one-step coupling

• Optimized levels of epoxy groups and uniform surface morphology for maximum coupling efficiency

• Highly uniform, stable, and reproducible

• We also make it to your exact specs

• Refer to the coupling procedure

Plain-surface Products

Polystyrene Microspheres

        The polystyrene microspheres are specifically designed for diagnostic assays and optimized for superior performance. Our proprietary formulations and process techniques have resulted in uniform, stable, and reproducible microspheres.

• Optimized levels of sulfate groups to stabilize the microparticles

• Very uniform surface morphology for best passive adsorption

• Can be used without precleaning for most applications

• Fluorescent and Dyed microspheres: Available in selected sizes

Lightly Hydrophilic Polystyrene Microspheres

        These microspheres are designed to enhance stability, passive adsorption, and reactivity.

Omni-Bind™ Lipophilic Plain-Surface Microspheres

        Our innovative process technology and formulations have led to the development of novel lipophilic (lipid incorporated/coated) microspheres for better binding of proteins. Microspheres have been developed to increase the binding efficiency of various proteins.

• The lipid incorporated/coated microspheres contour to the conformation of the proteins for better adsorption/binding efficiency and improved visibility of the agglutinates

• We also make it to your exact specs

Low-Density Plain-Surface Microspheres

        These microspheres are highly uniform, stable, and reproducible.  They are designed to reduce settling.

Non-polystyrene Plain-surface Microspheres

        These microspheres are designed to reduce non-specific binding and are easy to centrifuge.

High-Density Microspheres

Soap-Free Polystyrene Microspheres

        Our pioneering research in microparticle technology has led to the development of distinctive soap-free microspheres with the following unique features:

• Optimum sulfate groups to stabilize the microparticles

• Innovative process technology and formulation provide stability and uniformity throughout the polymerization

• No excess sulfate groups to interfere with passive adsorption

• No residual monomer

• Very uniform, stable, and reproducible

• Fluorescent and Dyed microspheres:  Available in selected sizes

• We also make it to your exact specs

Fluorescent / Dyed Polystyrene Microspheres

Standard Colors:   Fluorescent Yellow, Blue, Red, Hot Pink, Pink, Violet, Coral, Lavender, and other colors

We can also dye any product in this catalog to the color of your choice.

Other Products

SupraMag™ Superparamagnetic Microparticles

            PolyMicrospheres innovation in immunomagnetic research has led to the development of novel superparamagnetic microparticles with the highest magnetic loading and optimized levels of functional groups for covalent coupling of ligands.  These highly attractive superparamagnetic microparticles also provide high surface area.  The following products exhibit higher attraction to the magnet than typical 1-4 µM magnetic particles.

• High emu/g

• Highest magnetic attraction

• Fast response to magnet

• Clear supernatant

• Easy redispersion

Large Microbeads