An application of Markov chains to the modelling of the immunoassay element of an optical immunosensor

Several factors affect the viability of biosensor design. A computer-based model is being developed to enable the sources and effect of noise and variability within the sensor to be analysed. This paper details the modelling of the biochemical aspect of the biosensor model - the immunoassay. A modified Markov chain has been developed that allows the calculation of the transient concentrations of the species involved This method is compared with the classic technique of solving the differential equations that describe the rates of the reactions using a Runge-Kutta procedure. Results from both methods were found to be in agreement but the modified Markov approach is computationally more efficient.