A tetra-layer microfluidic system for peptide affinity screening through integrated sample injection

A novel integrated microfluidic system was designed and fabricated for affinity peptide screening with in situ detection. A tetra-layer microfluidic hybrid chip containing two top eccentric diffluent layers, an inter-layer and a bottom screening layer, was developed as the core device of the system. The eccentric diffluent layers were ingeniously invented for the vertical sample delivery from 2 top-inlets into 12 bottom-inlets, which eliminated the use of excessive accessories and complicated pipelines currently used in other systems. By using six pH gradient generators, the magnetic bead-based screening in 36 parallel chambers was simultaneously carried out under 6 different pH conditions from 5.4 to 8.2. This allowed simultaneous screening of 6 compounds and each under 6 different pH conditions. The fabricated chip system was applied to screening of affinity peptides towards β-endorphin antibody. The affinities of the peptide ligands to the antibody were assessed by on-chip confocal detection. The results from the screening study using this system indicated that the pentapeptide with the sequence of YGGFL had the highest affinity towards β-endorphin antibody at pH 7.1, which was further confirmed by the ELISA assay using a 96-well plate format. This microfluidic screening system is automatic, low-cost and reusable for not only peptide screening but also other bioactive compounds screening towards target molecules.