Microfluidic Devices with Photodefinable Pseudo-valves for Protein Separation

Plastic microfluidic devices are fabricated with an array of pseudo-valves for two-dimensional (2D) protein separation. The devices are made by compression molding; the mold is created by electroplating on a glass master fabricated by photolithography. Each device consists of one channel for isoelectric focusing (IEF) and multiple parallel channels for polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). The IEF channel (first dimension) is orthogonal to the PAGE channels (second dimension). Microfluidic pseudo-valves are created at the intersections of orthogonal channels by photodefinable, in situ gel polymerization. These valves enable the introduction of two types of separation media into orthogonal channels for performing 2D protein separation in the device. The presence of the pseudo-valves prevents one separation medium from being contaminated by the other medium, although proteins are allowed to transfer from the first to the second dimension under an electric field. Two-dimensional protein separation is achieved in less than 10 min, an improvement of two orders of magnitude compared with the conventional 2D gel electrophoresis using an IEF strip and a PAGE slab.