AVS 51st International Symposium
    Biomaterial Interfaces Friday Sessions
       Session BI+MN-FrM

Paper BI+MN-FrM6
Creating Protein and Vesicle Arrays Using Designated Surface Chemistry in Combination with a Novel Microfluidic Pattering Device

Friday, November 19, 2004, 10:00 am, Room 210D

Session: Bio-MEMS and Microfluidics
Presenter: J. Vörös, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Authors: B. Niederberger, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
M. Dusseiller, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
D. Falconnet, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
B. Städler, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
G.L. Zhen, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
F. Rossetti, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
J. Vörös, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Correspondent: Click to Email
Protein microarrays play a key-role in drug discovery, drug development and diagnostics by providing a highly sensitive, parallel analysis of the proteome of complex samples. The methods (e.g. spotting) that are currently available for the creation of DNA microarrays can not be directly used for proteins because they are subject to the loss of function upon contact with an ambient environment. In this work, we present a novel way to create arrays of different proteins or vesicles using a microfluidic device. The concept relies on a designated surface chemistry, which allows activation for subsequent binding events, in combination with crossing microfluidic channels for the local functionalization by separated laminar streams. Besides its simplicity and cost efficiency, this concept has the major advantage that it keeps the proteins in a hydrated environment throughout the experiment. The working principle of this arrayer is to activate spots by an activation stream and to do subsequent functionalization by reagent streams flowing perpendicular to the first stream. The surface pattern was provided by a MAPL-chip (Molecular Assembly Patterning by Lift-off) which consists of well defined areas (i.e. spots) of biotin or NTA functionalized PLL-g-PEG surrounded by a resistant surface of unfunctionalized PLL-g-PEG. The PDMS flow cell was fabricated by soft lithography and sealed to the sample surface by pressure. The position and the width of the streams containing the analytes could be adjusted using different flow rates in the microchannels. Fluorescent microscopy was used to monitor in situ the creation of a microarray consisting of alternating spots of streptavidin labeled with two different fluorophores. The concept was further extended to create heterogeneous arrays of his-tagged proteins and vesicles. This novel technique enables the creation of protein (including membrane-protein) microarrays in normal research labs in a simple and cost efficient way.