Dielectrophoretic separation of randomly shaped protein particles

Abstract

Recently, insoluble protein particles have been increasingly investigated for artificial drug delivery systems due to their favorable properties, including programmability for active drug targeting of diseases as well as their biocompatibility and biodegradability after administration. One of the biggest challenges is selectively collecting monodisperse particles in desirable morphologies and sizes to enable consistent levels and rates of drug loading and release. Therefore, technology that allows sorting of protein particles with respect to size and morphology will enhance the design and production of next-generation drug delivery materials. Here, we introduce a dielectrophoretic (DEP) separation technique to selectively isolate spherical protein particles from a mixture of randomly shaped particles. We tested this approach by applying it to a mixture of precipitated squid ring teeth inspired tandem repeat protein particles with diverse sizes and morphologies. The DEP trapping system enabled us to isolate specific-sized, spherical protein particles out of this mixture: after separation, the fraction of 2 μm and 4 μm spherical particles was increased from 28.64% of mixture to 80.53% and 74.02% with polydispersity indexes (PDIs) decreased from 0.93 of mixture to 0.19 and 0.09, respectively. The protein particles show high aqueous swelling capability (up to 74% by mass) that could enable delivery of drug solutions. This work is intended to inspire the future development of biocompatible drug-delivery systems.

Fluid-Screen as a real time dielectrophoretic method for universal microbial capture

“…15 ). In recent years the development of DEP separation techniques for proteins and other macromolecules also gained momentum [16][17][18] .In this paper we show the new DEP bacterial capture and separation method, that overcomes those notorious limitations. We call our DEP microbial capture method Fluid-Screen (FS).…”

“…15 ). In recent years the development of DEP separation techniques for proteins and other macromolecules also gained momentum [16][17][18] .…”

Direct In-Situ Capture, Separation and Visualization of Biological Particles with Fluid-Screen in the Context of Venus Life Finder Mission Concept Study

“…Fluid-Screen DEP technology can also capture and separate cells at different stages of their respective life cycles (Figure 3b). While the capture and separation of large biomolecules, such as DNA or proteins, is not a direct focus of the FS technology it can in principle be adapted to capture and separate them as well [18][19][20][21][22].…”