单细胞分析的研究

单细胞分析是分析化学、生物学和医学之间渗透发展形成的跨学科前沿领域。近年来,毛细管电泳及微流控芯片用于单细胞分析已取得显著进展,特别表现在微流控芯片用于细胞的培养、分选、操纵、定位、分离及检测细胞的组分,实时监测细胞释放,及高通量阵列检测等方面。芯片的单元操作可根据需要灵活组合,显示出其独特的优点。本文重点介绍作者研究组的工作,并对近三年来国内外在毛细管电泳及芯片毛细管电泳用于单细胞分析的新进展进行评论。最后从毛细管电泳与微流控芯片、微流控芯片与细胞界面以及量子点用于探测活细胞等方面,展望了单细胞分析的发展前景。     

On-chip chiral separation based on bovine serum albumin-conjugated carbon nanotubes as stationary phase in a microchannel

A novel method of chiral separation based on protein-stationary phase immobilized in a poly(methyl methacrylate) microfluidic chip was developed. BSA conjugated with the shortened carboxylic single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) was employed as the chiral selector. Successful separation of tryptophan enantiomers was achieved in less than 70 s with a resolution factor of 1.35 utilizing a separation length of 32 mm. This is the first example of chiral separation based on SWNTs-BSA conjugates as stationary phase immobilized in microchip channel. The stability of the stationary phase in the channel was examined by microchip electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection. Factors that influenced the chiral separation resolution were examined. Under the optimized conditions, the proposed modified chip revealed adequate repeatability concerning run-to-run. These results show that the use of SWNTs-BSA conjugates within microfluidic channels hold great promise for a variety of analytical schemes.     

Separation of carboxylic acids in human serum by isotachophoresis using a commercial field-deployable analytical platform combined with in-house glass microfluidic chips

Portable and field deployable analytical instruments are attractive in many fields including medical diagnostics, where point of care and on-site diagnostics systems capable of providing rapid quantitative results have the potential to vastly improve the productivity and the quality of medical care. Isotachophoresis (ITP) is a well known electrophoretic separation technique previously demonstrated as suitable for miniaturization in microfluidic chip format (chip-ITP). In this work, a purpose-designed ITP chip compatible with a commercial end-used targeted microfluidic system was used to study different injection protocols and to evaluate the effect of the length of the separation channel on the analytical performance. The in-house ITP chips were made from Corning glass and compared to the commercial DNA chip for the ITP separation of anions from the hydrodynamic injection of human serum. Using the in-house ITP chip the isotachophoretic step of lactate from human serum was approximately two times longer. The results of this research suggested that microfluidic ITP with indirect fluorescence detection is a viable technique for separation of organic acids in human serum samples, especially when a chip with suitable design is used.     

微流控细胞芯片LED诱导荧光检测微系统

基于微流控细胞芯片分析技术和微机电系统(MEMS)加工技术, 设计制作了阵列式微流控细胞检测芯片, 采用自组装的顶窗型光电倍增管(PMT)和信号采集电路采集芯片微管道内流动细胞的荧光信号, 构建了一种针对低浓度细胞悬浮液的微流控细胞芯片发光二极管(LED)诱导荧光的快速检测微系统, 实现了对低浓度(≤40 Cell/mL)荧光标记的HepG2肝癌细胞悬浮液样本的定量计数和测试, 而且在血液细胞共存的条件下, 仍可以有效地对血液中少量HepG2肝癌细胞进行荧光计数和测试. 整个系统结构简单, 操作方便且检测灵敏度较高.     

Analytical and numerical study of Joule heating effects on electrokinetically pumped continuous flow PCR chips

Joule heating is an inevitable phenomenon for microfluidic chips involving electrokinetic pumping, and it becomes a more important issue when chips are made of polymeric materials because of their low thermal conductivities. Therefore, it is very important to develop methods for evaluating Joule heating effects in microfluidic chips in a relatively easy manner. To this end, two analytical models have been established and solved using the Green's function for evaluating Joule heating effects on the temperature distribution in a microfluidic-based PCR chip. The first simplified model focuses on the understanding of Joule heating effects by ignoring the influences of the boundary conditions. The second model aims to consider practical experimental conditions. The analytical solutions to the two models are particularly useful in providing guidance for microfluidic chip design and operation prior to expensive chip fabrication and characterization. To validate the analytical solutions, a 3-D numerical model has also been developed and the simultaneous solution to this model allows the temperature distribution in a microfluidic PCR chip to be obtained, which is used to compare with the analytical results. The developed numerical model has been applied for parametric studies of Joule heating effects on the temperature control of microfluidic chips.     

含双T切换接口的胶束电动色谱-毛细管区带电泳二维电泳芯片上混合氨基酸的分离富集

基于时间顺序设计提出了含双T切换接口的胶束电动色谱(MEKC)和毛细管区带电泳(CZE)的二维芯片,构建了相应的芯片分析测试系统.基于FITC标记的氨基酸样品的一维MEKC和CZE实验结果,对二维进样时间、二维分离启动时间等二维芯片电泳关键操作参数进行了优化.采用所构建的MEKC-CZE二维芯片电泳分析系统对精氨酸、赖氨酸、组氨酸、苯丙氨酸和酪氨酸的混合样品进行了二维芯片电泳分离分析,计算得到两种分离模式的正交性为56.0%.     

微流控芯片实验室

以作者所在课题组近年来的研究工作为基础,就芯片实验室平台建设及相应的以系统生物学为最终目标的功能化研究作一说明,对在分子和细胞层面,甚至是单分子、单细胞水平上实现以规模集成为特征的临床诊断和药物筛选的努力予以特别的关注。     

Optical sensing in microfluidic lab-on-a-chip by femtosecond-laser-written waveguides

We use direct femtosecond laser writing to integrate optical waveguides into a commercial fused silica capillary electrophoresis chip. High-quality waveguides crossing the microfluidic channels are fabricated and used to optically address, with high spatial selectivity, their content. Fluorescence from the optically excited volume is efficiently collected at a 90° angle by a high numerical aperture fiber, resulting in a highly compact and portable device. To test the platform we performed electrophoresis and detection of a 23-mer oligonucleotide plug. Our approach is quite powerful because it allows the integration of photonic functionalities, by simple post-processing, into commercial LOCs fabricated with standard techniques. Figure Femtosecond laser written waveguides can selectively excite fluorescence in a microfluidic channel of a commercial lab-on-a-chip. A compact scheme for on-chip detection by laser induced fluorescence is applied to capillary electrophoresis of a 23-mer Cy3-labeled oligonucleotide     

Separation and determination of β-casomorphins by using glass microfluidic chip electrophoresis together with laser-induced fluorescence detection

A simple, reliable and reproducible method for the separation and determination of five β-casomorphins (β-CMs, namely TPGN, PGPI, TPGI, TPGP and TPPG) based on glass microfluidic chip electrophoresis and laser-induced fluorescence detection is first described in here. The microfluidic chip electrophoresis and laser-induced fluorescence detection system consisted of a home-made glass "double-T" microchip and a simple LIF detector with excitation and emission wavelengths of 473 and 525 nm, respectively. Fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) was used as the precolumn derivatization reagent to label fluorophore on five β-CMs, and the optimum conditions of FITC-derivatization reaction and MCE separation were investigated in detail. Under optimum conditions, five β-CMs were completely separated and detected within 30 min with a detection limit of 18.7-75.1 nmol/L and an RSD (n=5) of 3.0-5.9%, respectively. The proposed method has been successfully used to detect β-CMs in real cheese sample with a recovery of 89-109%, suggesting that our method is sensitive and reliable. These features, as well as its low cost, operation convenience, stability and reusability, make it a promising alternative to β-CMs detection methods.     

Biochemical analysis with microfluidic systems

Microfluidic systems are capillary networks of varying complexity fabricated originally in silicon, but nowadays in glass and polymeric substrates. Flow of liquid is mainly controlled by use of electroosmotic effects, i.e. application of electric fields, in addition to pressurized flow, i.e. application of pressure or vacuum. Because electroosmotic flow rates depend on the charge densities on the walls of capillaries, they are influenced by substrate material, fabrication processes, surface pretreatment procedures, and buffer additives. Microfluidic systems combine the properties of capillary electrophoretic systems and flow-through analytical systems, and thus biochemical analytical assays have been developed utilizing and integrating both aspects. Proteins, peptides, and nucleic acids can be separated because of their different electrophoretic mobility; detection is achieved with fluorescence detectors. For protein analysis, in particular, interfaces between microfluidic chips and mass spectrometers were developed. Further levels of integration of required sample-treatment steps were achieved by integration of protein digestion by immobilized trypsin and amplification of nucleic acids by the polymerase chain reaction. Kinetic constants of enzyme reactions were determined by adjusting different degrees of dilution of enzyme substrates or inhibitors within a single chip utilizing mainly the properties of controlled dosing and mixing liquids within a chip. For analysis of kinase reactions, however, a combination of a reaction step (enzyme with substrate and inhibitor) and a separation step (enzyme substrate and reaction product) was required. Microfluidic chips also enable separation of analytes from sample matrix constituents, which can interfere with quantitative determination, if they have different electrophoretic mobilities. In addition to analysis of nucleic acids and enzymes, immunoassays are the third group of analytical assays performed in microfluidic chips. They utilize either affinity capillary electrophoresis as a homogeneous assay format, or immobilized antigens or antibodies in heterogeneous assays with serial supply of reagents and washing solutions.     

Photothermal spectrometry for detection in miniaturized systems: relevant features, strategies and recent applications

There is a growing interest in using miniaturized analytical devices because they allow to execute the different steps of an analytical process within very short times and with drastic reduction in the amounts of solvents, reagents and samples. As for capillary electrophoresis, these systems require detectors which are sensitive, versatile and adaptable to very small detection volumes. In this respect, photothermal spectrometry which is complementary to fluorescence seems to be a promising detection method. This review describes the basic principle of photothermal spectrometry along with the related methods based on colinear-beam or crossed-beam configuration of the pump and probe lasers. Two experimental set ups especially designed for microfluidic systems as well as for capillary electrophoresis are described. Their characteristics and key features are discussed and the main applications are outlined.     

Analysis Laboratory on a Chip

Microfluidic chip offers a promising platform for chemical or biological analysis on the basis of flexible integration of various functional operation units. This article provides an overview of the recent achievements of microfluidic chip and its applications based on the works mainly carried out in the authors' lab, especially for the purpose of constructing analytical laboratory on a microfluidic chip. Different operation units and some representative applications in molecules, cell and organism analysis are described.     

Microfluidic chip electrophoresis for biochemical analysis

Microfluidic chip electrophoresis has been widely employed for separation of various biochemical species owing to its advantages of low sample consumption, low cost, fast analysis, high throughput, and integration capability. In this article, we reviewed the development of four different modes of microfluidics‐based electrophoresis technologies including capillary electrophoresis, gel electrophoresis, dielectrophoresis, and field (electric) flow fractionation. Coupling detection schemes on microfluidic electrophoresis platform were also reviewed such as optical, electrochemical, and mass spectrometry method. We further discussed the innovative applications of microfluidic electrophoresis for biomacromolecules (nucleic acids and proteins), biochemical small molecules (amino acids, metabolites, ions, etc.), and bioparticles (cells and pathogens) analysis. The future direction of microfluidic chip electrophoresis was predicted.     

Analytical detection techniques for droplet microfluidics—A review

In the last decade, droplet-based microfluidics has undergone rapid progress in the fields of single-cell analysis, digital PCR, protein crystallization and high throughput screening. It has been proved to be a promising platform for performing chemical and biological experiments with ultra-small volumes (picoliter to nanoliter) and ultra-high throughput. The ability to analyze the content in droplet qualitatively and quantitatively is playing an increasing role in the development and application of droplet-based microfluidic systems. In this review, we summarized the analytical detection techniques used in droplet systems and discussed the advantage and disadvantage of each technique through its application. The analytical techniques mentioned in this paper include bright-field microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, laser induced fluorescence, Raman spectroscopy, electrochemistry, capillary electrophoresis, mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, absorption detection, chemiluminescence, and sample pretreatment techniques. The importance of analytical detection techniques in enabling new applications is highlighted. We also discuss the future development direction of analytical detection techniques for droplet-based microfluidic systems.     

蛋白质/多肽的微流控二维芯片电泳*

在微流控芯片上构建多维分离系统,为蛋白质组学研究提供了一个有发展前景的高效分离分析技术平台。本文介绍了二维芯片电泳系统耦联模式选取及正交性评价的方法;综述了针对蛋白质/多肽分离分析的各种耦联模式微流控二维芯片电泳分析系统,如胶束电动力学色谱（MEKC）与毛细管区带电泳（CZE）,开管电色谱（OECE）与CZE,等电聚焦（IEF）与CZE, IEF与SDS毛细管凝胶电泳（CGE）, SDS-CGE与MEKC等。特别对二维电泳芯片切换接口的类型进行了分类,探讨了用于微流控二维芯片电泳系统的检测技术,并展望了微流控二维电泳芯片在蛋白质组学研究中的应用前景和发展方向。     

微流控芯片二维电泳研究进展

综述了微流控芯片二维电泳技术及其在生命科学中的应用,包括胶束电动力学毛细管色谱(MEKC)与毛细管区带电泳(CZE)、等电聚焦(IEF)与CZE、开管电色谱(OCEC)与CZE耦联等模式的二维微流控芯片。展望了二维微流控芯片的应用前景。     

Native Protein Separation by Isoelectric Focusing and Blue Gel Electrophoresis-Coupled Two-Dimensional Microfluidic Chip Electrophoresis

The use of microfluidic chip-based two-dimensional separation holds great promise in the proteomics field, given its portability, simplicity, speed, efficiency, and throughput. However, inclusion of sodium dodecyl sulfate, reported to be necessary for increasing protein-resolving capability, was also accompanied by the loss of both protein conformation and biological function. Here, we describe separation of native proteins by introducing blue native gel electrophoresis into isoelectric focusing and gel electrophoresis (IEF/CGE)-coupled protein two-dimensional microfluidic chip electrophoresis. After assessing the influence of various experimental conditions, the best separation ability and reproducibility of blue native IEF/CGE (IEF/BN-CGE) chip electrophoresis achieved until now were demonstrated no matter whether with a simple simulated mixture or with a complex mixture of total Escherichia coli proteins. Finally, instead of theoretical calculations, the image analysis technique was also used for the first time to quantitatively evaluate the actual peak capacities of chip electrophoresis. According to the number of features abstracted in the electrophoresis patterns, the superiority of the IEF/BN-CGE two-dimensional microfluidic chip electrophoresis was then exhibited quantitatively. The high native protein separation performance makes this established chip electrophoresis method possible for further application in widely needed drug screening, analysis of bio-molecular function, and assays of protein–protein interactions.     

Coupling microchip electrophoresis with MALDI-TOF-MS based on a freezing technique

A freezing technique protocol was proposed for coupling microchip electrophoresis with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry(MALD1-TOF-MS).The microfluidic flow was frozen immediately after electrophoresis on microfluidic chip and the separated analyte molecules were kept in their zone pattern in the electrophoresis.Then,the frozen-chip was lyophilized and sent into TOF-MS instrument as a MALDI target,and the analyte molecules in the microfluidic channels were subjected to analysis by mass spectrometry.This approach could eliminate sample cross-contamination, providing a new interface for microchip electrophoresis and MALDI-MS.     

Interfacing capillary gel microfluidic chips with infrared laser desorption mass spectrometry

We report on the fabrication and performance of a gel microfluidic chip interfaced to laser desorption/ionization (LDI) mass spectrometry with a time-of-flight mass analyzer. The chip was fabricated from poly(methylmethacrylate) with a poly(dimethyl siloxane) cover. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis was performed in the channel of the microfluidic chip. After electrophoresis, the cover was removed and either the PDMS chip or the PMMA cover was mounted in a modified MALDI ion source for analysis. Ions were formed by irradiating the channel with 2.95 microm radiation from a pulsed optical parametric oscillator (OPO), which is coincident with IR absorption by N-H and O-H stretch of the gel components. No matrix was added. The microfluidic chip design allowed a decrease in the volume of material required for analysis over conventional gel slabs, thus enabling improvement in the detection limit to a pmol level, a three orders of magnitude improvement over previous studies in which desorption was achieved from an excised section of a conventional gel.