Nanoscale Molecular Traps
and Dams for Ultrafast Protein
Enrichment in High-Conductivity Buffers
- Publication date
- Publisher
Abstract
We report a new approach, <i>molecular dam</i>, to enhance
mass transport for protein enrichment in nanofluidic channels by nanoscale
electrodeless dielectrophoresis under physiological buffer conditions.
Dielectric nanoconstrictions down to 30 nm embedded in nanofluidic
devices serve as field-focusing lenses capable of magnifying the applied
field to 10<sup>5</sup>-fold when combined with a micro- to nanofluidic
step interface. With this strong field and the associated field gradient
at the nanoconstrictions, proteins are enriched by the molecular damming
effect faster than the trapping effect, to >10<sup>5</sup>-fold
in
20 s, orders of magnitude faster than most reported methods. Our study
opens further possibilities of using nanoscale molecular dams in miniaturized
sensing platforms for rapid and sensitive protein analysis and biomarker
discovery, with potential applications in precipitation studies and
protein crystallization and possible extensions to small-molecules
enrichment or screening