Applications

Plain polymer

Uniformly sized Polystyrene (PS) and Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) microspheres have been found to have numerous applications in scientific research, diagnostics, electronics, pharmaceuticals, and nanotechnology. Examples of common applications are below:
  • Size Standards
  • Latex Agglutination Assays
  • Solid Phase Immunoassays
  • Markers
  • Spacers in liquid crystal display (LCD)
  • Purification and separation
  • Ion-Exchange 

PMMA microspheres are slightly more hydrophilic than polystyrene microspheres.  This feature makes PMMA microspheres less likely to cause non-specific binding in biological applications than polystyrene beads. Additionally, PMMA is denser than polystyrene, which makes PMMA microspheres a bit easier to centrifuge in purification processes.

PLGA is a biodegradable and biocompatible polymer approved by the US FDA for use in biomedical applications.  PCL is a biodegradable polymer approved by the US FDA for use in drug delivery.  Encapsulation of drug molecules into PLGA and PCL microspheres and nanoparticles allows for various applications including: controlled release, bioavailability enhancement, drug targeting, and API stabilization. Our featured plain PCL and PLGA microspheres and nanoparticles offer our customers the opportunity to test system compatibility before putting their API into the microspheres or nanoparticles. Plain PCL and PLGA particles can also serve as carriers in which case drug molecules can be attached to the particles and delivered.  PCL has received considerable attention for use as an implantable biomaterial.  PCL is particularly interesting for the preparation of long-term implantable devices, since the degradation rate of PCL is slower than PLGA. 
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Many of our plain microspheres are offered with surfaces functionalized with carboxyl groups.  These surface modified microspheres allow for the covalent attachment of proteins, peptides, antibodies, and antigens.  

Color-dyed microspheres

Our featured color-dyed microspheres are available in two vibrantly dyed colors: blue and red.  These colored microspheres are often used in lateral flow detection and latex agglutination tests.  They are also frequently used as markers to label biomolecules.  Carboxylated color microspheres allow for the covalent coupling of antibodies or antigens. 

Fluorescent microspheres

These are frequently used in imaging and diagnostic applications for the detection of binding events or signal enhancement.

Fluorescent microspheres can also be used for fluid tracing, fluid mechanics studies, cell tracking, phagocytosis studies, latex agglutination tests, fluorescence microscopy, and drug discovery research.
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Fluorescent microspheres with surface functional groups allow for the covalent coupling of antigens and antibodies.