One-Step Protein Analysis Using Slanted Nanofilter Array

Technology

Size-based separation of proteins is widely used to check the purity of protein drugs in the pharmaceutical manufacturing process and to insure the absence of toxic impurities. Drawbacks of existing methods such as size exclusion chromatography, SDS-PAGE and gel electrophoresis include laborious manual processing, low separation resolution, low sensitivity and low accuracy due to adsorption of the sample molecules onto the sieving matrix. The current technology provides a new platform nanofluidic chip for potentially automated, single step protein analysis. The device, composed of slanted nanofilter arrays with periodically-patterned deep and shallow nanoslits, demonstrates both protein pre-concentration and size based protein separation as a one-step process. This is done by having two regions within the device with different angles (135 degrees for pre-concentration and 45 degrees for separation). The protein mixture is mechanically focused (pre-concentrated) at the bottom edge of the channel and then size-separated into a different stream continuously.   

Problem Addressed

This technology provides a one-step process for protein pre-concentration and separation by size but requiring minute amount of sample volume.   

Advantages

• Rapid (30 minutes)
• Single device, one-step process
• Continuous monitoring (real-time release)
• Small sample volume
• High reproducibility
• Robust and reusable device (years)