Droplet sample introduction to microchip gel and zone electrophoresis for rapid analysis of protein-protein complexes and enzymatic reactions

Microfluidic approaches for the analysis of protein–protein interactions in solution

“…Furthermore, current efforts to provide meaningful insight into PPIs using microfluidic techniques rely upon strong collaborative efforts in order to bring together the necessary expertise and facilities for both cutting-edge microfluidic studies, involving microfluidic engineering, fabrication and operation and relevant, high-quality experiments in the life sciences. Microfluidic tools themselves may present a means to address challenges regarding throughput and automation, as has been demonstrated by high-speed capillary electrophoresis (Floris et al 2010;Pan et al 2018) and the use of droplet microfluidics for rapid front-end sample processing (Ouimet et al 2019), for example. Moreover, a variety of commercial microfluidic platforms relevant to the study of protein-protein interactions have recently become available, which are predicted to broaden access to microfluidic methodologies to non-expert users in the future (Volpatti and Yetisen 2014;Chiu et al 2017;Macikova et al 2019).…”

Label-free methods for opticalin vitrocharacterization of protein–protein interactions

“… 64 Ouimet et al showed that they can further increase throughput with a novel droplet sample introduction system which interfaces the multi-well plate and microchip gel electrophoresis more efficiently, resulting in overall run times of 10 s per sample. 76 These kinds of microfluidic approaches combined with high-throughput compatibility, i.e. coupling to plate readers and robotic automation, will pave the way for broader application.…”

“…11 Although recent CE literature reporting binding affinity measurements of protein-protein interactions is limited, CE's potential lies in its ability to deliver yes/no answers quickly, which makes it a powerful method for high-throughput screening of small molecule inhibitors of interactions under physiological conditions. [76][77][78]…”

Comparison of separation modes for microchip electrophoresis of proteins

“…Despite the introduction of novel techniques, protein separation with microfluidic devices is still challenging due to the unique characteristics of proteins [1–6]. Among the most significant challenges encountered in microchip separations of proteins are the similarity in electrophoretic mobilities for different proteins, protein adsorption to surfaces, Joule heating, and the need for sensitive detection.…”