Microfluidic Platforms for on-chip Formulation and Small-Angle x-ray Analysis of the Phase Behavior of Lipid/Water Mixtures
- UIUC
We present a microfluidic platform for on-chip formulation and X-ray analysis of lipidic mesophases formed upon mixing lipids and water. The platform is designed to study the effect of detergents on the phase behavior of lipid/water mixtures. The platform allows automated preparation of multiple samples of different composition from stock solutions and subsequent on-chip small-angle X-ray diffraction (SAXS) data collection. To ensure X-ray transparency of the platform we used thin layers of cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) and PDMS. The viability of the platform is demonstrated by mapping out a section of the phase diagram for lipid monoolein mixed with solutions of detergent {beta}-octylglucoside. The platform reported here is a viable alternative to the traditional method of establishing phase diagrams for lipid/solution mixtures. Compared to the conventional approach, a significantly smaller amount of sample is required for mapping phase diagrams of lipidic mesophases and samples of various compositions are prepared automatically. In ongoing work we are using these chips to rapidly determine the phase behavior of a range of lipids to establish their suitability for membrane protein crystallization, especially with respect to their sensitivity to detergent concentration.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- National Institutes of Health (NIH)
- OSTI ID:
- 1031922
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 15th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences;October 2-6, 2011;Seattle, Washington
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- ENGLISH
Similar Records
X-ray Transparent Microfluidic Chip for Mesophase-Based Crystallization of Membrane Proteins and On-Chip Structure Determination
Monoolein lipid phases as incorporation and enrichment materials for membrane protein crystallization.