Microfluidic PepArray™ Design
Our array platform is unique and was developed based on proprietary microfluidics technology. We take advantage of microfluidics during both the synthesis of the arrays and during the binding/enzymatic assay reactions.
Synthesis – Our technology enables us to perform custom synthesis of peptides and peptidomimetics directly on the high density microfluidic chip at addressable chip locations. We synthesize all peptide microarrays to order using either a catalog design or a design generated from a list of peptides provided by customer or compiled from peptide databases. We do not need to pre-synthesize and then spot the arrays. Therefore, there is no requirement for significant up-front investment in synthesis of peptide libraries and we do not have a stock-pile of arrays sitting on a shelf with content that may become out of date. We have array formats of 4K, 5K, and 30K features.
High Density – On Chip Parallel Synthesis
Customizable – DNA, RNA, Peptides, and Analogs
Versatile – Uses Conventional Chemistry
Assays – The chip is an enclosed microfluidic system, consisting of fluid distribution channels and picoliter scale reaction chambers. The chip is a closed system, unlike an open glass slide as with typical microarrays so dye oxidation and deterioration are not an issue. Miniaturized microfluidic array features reduce consumption of samples to the sub-nanoliter to picoliter level per reaction. To perform the binding/enzymatic reactions, the solution is re-circulated through the chip under defined environmental conditions, time, temp, flow rate, and direction, not merely pipetted on top of the array. Active circulation of the sample throughout the chip produces a uniform distribution of the sample solution on the array that enhances the binding kinetics and stringency wash processes. This results in increased signal-to-noise and decreased CV values. There are no “dark” areas due to non-uniform sample distribution. Additionally, microfluidic PepArrays™ can be used for repetitive time-, protein/antibody/enzyme concentration-, or co-factor/inhibitor-dependent measurements. The array can be used multiple times, each time assay is carried out and assay signals are collected by fluorescence scan. These assays generate a very large set of data for proteomic assays and valuable information which would take weeks and months to produce using a conventional single protein/antibody/enzyme assay kit.
Clear Advantages
Custom synthesis – in situ (on chip) high density peptide synthesis means arrays are made to order on an addressable array (sequences can be defined to each single amino acid residue).
No spotting – we do not need to pre-synthesize and then spot the arrays so there is no up-front investment in synthesis of peptide libraries.
Always up-to-date – no stock-pile of arrays sitting on a shelf with content that may become out of date.
Microfluidics – array platform is unique and was developed based on a powerful proprietary microfluidics technology.
High-throughput – the PepArray™ is an assay reaction device which allows thousands of proteomics reactions at once normally carried out in individual micro tubes or microtiter plates.
Picoliter scale reactions – high-throughput format generates quantitative results with minimal sample usage (sub-nanoliter to picoliter level per reaction).
Closed system – the chip is a closed system, not an open glass slide so dye oxidation and deterioration are not an issue.
Controlled environment – the reaction solution is re-circulated through the chip under defined environmental conditions, time, temp, flow rate, and direction, not merely pipetted on top of the array.
Enhanced binding kinetics – active circulation of the sample throughout the chip produces a uniform distribution of the sample solution on the array that enhances the binding kinetics and stringency wash processes. This results in increased signal-to-noise and decreased CV values.
No “dark” areas – due to non-uniform sample distribution.
Flexible format – we have array formats of 4K, 5K, and 30K features, suitable for diverse applications.
Comprehensive service – PepArray™ technology is made available to you as a comprehensive service for many applications.
Diverse proteomics applications – enzymatic assays for protein kinases and their inhibitors, epitope mapping, antibody and autoantibody detection, and proteomic profiling of phosphoprotein-binding proteins and domain-binding proteins.
