Monitoring for contaminants is a critical step during the production process in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. Endotoxin, a frequent contaminant, can cause fever, inflammation, headache, nausea, and even death. Found in the cell walls of gram-negative bacteria, endotoxin has routinely been detected by the sensitive and specific Limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL) assay. In the presence of endotoxins, LAL coagulates through an enzyme-mediated cascade, which has then been traditionally quantified based on gelation and…