A Double Emulsion-Based, Plastic-Glass Hybrid Microfluidic Platform for Protein Crystallization

Micromachines

Deyong Zhu²  Xiaohu Zhou²  Bo Zheng¹  Andrew deMello² 

[1] Department of Chemistry, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China

关键词: microfluidic platform;    double emulsion;    microreactor;    protein crystallization;    surface effect;    volume effect;    screening;   

DOI  :  10.3390/mi6111446

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

This paper reports the design and construction of a plastic-glass hybrid microfluidic platform for performing protein crystallization trials in nanoliter double emulsions. The double emulsion-based protein crystallization trials were implemented with both the vapor-diffusion method and microbatch method by controlling the diffusion of water between the inner and outer phases and by eliminating water evaporation. Double emulsions, whose inner and outer environments can be easily adjusted, can provide ideal conditions to explore protein crystallization with the advantages of a convection-free environment and a homogeneous interface. The property of the water-oil interface was demonstrated to be a critical factor for nucleation, and appropriate surfactants should be chosen to prevent protein adsorption at the interface. The results from the volume effect study showed a trend of fewer crystals and longer incubation time when the protein solution volume became smaller, suggesting that the nucleation in protein crystallization process can be controlled by changing the volume of protein solutions. Finally, sparse matrix screening was achieved using the double emulsion-based microbatch method. The double emulsion-based approach for protein crystallization is a promising tool for enhancing the crystal quality by controlling the nucleation process.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.