skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Quantification of protein interaction kinetics in a micro droplet

Journal Article · · Review of Scientific Instruments
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4934802· OSTI ID:22482607
 [1]; ;  [2]
  1. Center for Bioelectronics and Biosensors, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287 (United States)
  2. College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044 (China)

Characterization of protein interactions is essential to the discovery of disease biomarkers, the development of diagnostic assays, and the screening for therapeutic drugs. Conventional flow-through kinetic measurements need relative large amount of sample that is not feasible for precious protein samples. We report a novel method to measure protein interaction kinetics in a single droplet with sub microliter or less volume. A droplet in a humidity-controlled environmental chamber is replacing the microfluidic channels as the reactor for the protein interaction. The binding process is monitored by a surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRi) system. Association curves are obtained from the average SPR image intensity in the center area of the droplet. The washing step required by conventional flow-through SPR method is eliminated in the droplet method. The association and dissociation rate constants and binding affinity of an antigen-antibody interaction are obtained by global fitting of association curves at different concentrations. The result obtained by this method is accurate as validated by conventional flow-through SPR system. This droplet-based method not only allows kinetic studies for proteins with limited supply but also opens the door for high-throughput protein interaction study in a droplet-based microarray format that enables measurement of many to many interactions on a single chip.

OSTI ID:
22482607
Journal Information:
Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 86, Issue 11; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0034-6748
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English