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bioRxiv · 10.1101/580233

Separations-Encoded Microparticles For Single-Cell Western Blotting

Gumuscu, B.·Herr, A.
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Abstract

Direct measurement of proteins from single cells has been realized at the microscale using microfluidic channels, capillaries, and semi-enclosed microwell arrays. Although powerful, these formats are constrained, with the enclosed geometries proving cumbersome for multistage assays, including electrophoresis followed by immunoprobing. We introduce a hybrid microfluidic format that toggles between a planar microwell array and a suspension of microparticles. The planar array is stippled in a thin sheet of polyacrylamide gel, for efficient single-cell isolation and protein electrophoresis of hundreds-to-thousands of cells. Upon mechanical release, array elements become a suspension of separations-encoded microparticles for more efficient immunoprobing due to enhanced mass transfer. Dehydrating microparticles offer improved analytical sensitivity owing to in-gel concentration of fluorescence signal for high-throughput single-cell targeted proteomics.

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Gumuscu, B., Herr, A.. 2019-03-16. Separations-Encoded Microparticles For Single-Cell Western Blotting. https://doi.org/10.1101/580233

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