Modular microfluidics for point-of-care protein purifications

Lab Chip. 2015 Apr 21;15(8):1799-811. doi: 10.1039/c5lc00094g.

Abstract

Biochemical separations are the heart of diagnostic assays and purification methods for biologics. On-chip miniaturization and modularization of separation procedures will enable the development of customized, portable devices for personalized health-care diagnostics and point-of-use production of treatments. In this report, we describe the design and fabrication of miniature ion exchange, size exclusion and affinity chromatography modules for on-chip clean-up of recombinantly-produced proteins. Our results demonstrate that these common separations techniques can be implemented in microfluidic modules with performance comparable to conventional approaches. We introduce embedded 3-D microfluidic interconnects for integrating micro-scale separation modules that can be arranged and reconfigured to suit a variety of fluidic operations or biochemical processes. We demonstrate the utility of the modular approach with a platform for the enrichment of enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) from Escherichia coli lysate through integrated affinity and size-exclusion chromatography modules.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Chromatography, Gel
  • Chromatography, Ion Exchange
  • Equipment Design
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins / isolation & purification*
  • Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / instrumentation
  • Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / methods*
  • Point-of-Care Systems*

Substances

  • enhanced green fluorescent protein
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins