Methods and compositions for removing biotin interference from assays using molecular traps

A molecular trap to reduce free-hapten interference in an assay, the molecular trap comprising:

• a molecular structure soluble in an assay solution to selectively bind free-hapten, the molecular structure comprising a modified specific binding partner (sbp) to the free-hapten, the modified sbp comprising one or more of a dextran aldehyde component, a bound steric-hindering polymer, and slower specific free-hapten binding off-rate characteristics than other free-hapten specific binding partners (sbps) assay reagents.