US Patent 10488409 Signal amplification in plasmonic specific-binding partner assays

The present invention relates to analyte detection devices and methods of using such devices to detect minute quantities of a target analyte in a sample. In particular, the invention provides an analyte detection device comprising a plurality of composite metallic nanostructures conjugated to analyte binding partners and a surface containing a metallic nanolayer on which a plurality of capture molecules is immobilized. Methods of preparing composite nanostructures are also described.