Magnets and magnetic particle-labeled reagents are used to capture and / or release magnetic particle-tagged entities for immunohematology diagnostic testing purposes, especially tests performed in blood banking. The magnetic tagged entities may be tagged antibodies, tagged blood cells, tagged universal binding partners, especially tagged lectins and tagged Coombs
reagent, and other binding agents such as
biotin-
avidin,
Protein A or G, ligands and their receptors and the like. Separation of unbound material from bound material is effected through the use of one or both the
magnetic field effect on the magnetic labeled reactants and the density gradients of
layers of an
assay construct. Constructs such as chromatographic strip lateral flow format, and
liquid phase reactions in suitable vessels with end point determinations that do not require
centrifugation to detect reacted entities. Readable labels such as enzymes, fluorophors, chemiluminescent materials, radioactive isotopes, and other labels may be attached to Coombs
reagent to provide a readable product of the Coombs
reagent with any
antibody participating in the
assay.