structural analysis with a SAXS laboratory beamline on a microfluidic chip.

Recent advances have been made in coupling microfluidic chips with X-ray equipment, enabling structural analysis of samples directly in microfluidic devices. This important step mainly took place at powerful synchrotron facilities because of the need for a beam reduced in size to fit the microfluidic channel dimensions but still intense. In this work, we discuss how improvements of an X-ray laboratory beamline and an optimal design of a microfluidic device allow reliable structural information to be obtained without the need for a synchrotron.

Microfluidics: A Novel Approach for Dehydration Protein Droplets.

The equation of state of colloids plays an important role in the modelling and comprehension of industrial processes, defining the working conditions of processes such as drying, filtration, and mixing. The determination of the equation is based on the solvent equilibration, by dialysis, between the colloidal suspension and a reservoir with a known osmotic pressure. In this paper, we propose a novel microfluidic approach to determine the equation of state of a lysozyme solution.

An innovative data processing method for studying nanoparticle formation in droplet microfluidics using X-rays scattering.

X-ray scattering techniques provide a powerful means of characterizing the formation of nanoparticles in solution. Coupling these techniques to segmented-flow microfluidic devices that offer well-defined environments gives access to time-resolved analysis, excellent reproducibility, and eliminates potential radiation damage. However, analysis of the resulting datasets can be extremely time-consuming, where these comprise frames corresponding to the droplets alone, the continuous phase alone, and to both at their interface.

Innovative High-Throughput SAXS Methodologies Based on Photonic Lab-on-a-Chip Sensors: Application to Macromolecular Studies.

The relevance of coupling droplet-based Photonic Lab-on-a-Chip (PhLoC) platforms and Small-Angle X-Ray Scattering (SAXS) technique is here highlighted for the performance of high throughput investigations, related to the study of protein macromolecular interactions. With this configuration, minute amounts of sample are required to obtain reliable statistical data. The PhLoC platforms presented in this work are designed to allow and control an effective mixing of precise amounts of proteins, crystallization reagents and buffer in nanoliter volumes, and the subsequent generation of nanodroplets by means of a two-phase flow.

Broadcasting photonic lab on a chip concept through a low cost manufacturing approach.

A low cost fabrication process for photonic lab on a chip systems is here proposed. For the implementation of the masters suitable for cast molding fabrication, an inexpensive dry film photoresist, patternable using standard laboratory equipment, is benchmarked against standardized SU-8 masters obtained using UV lithography and systems manufacture in clean room facilities. Results show adequate system fabrication and a comparable performance of the photonic structures for absorbance/extinction measurements.

Coupling High Throughput Microfluidics and Small-Angle X-ray Scattering to Study Protein Crystallization from Solution.

In this work, we propose the combination of small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and high throughput, droplet based microfluidics as a powerful tool to investigate macromolecular interactions, directly related to protein solubility. For this purpose, a robust and low cost microfluidic platform was fabricated for achieving the mixing of proteins, crystallization reagents, and buffer in nanoliter volumes and the subsequent generation of nanodroplets by means of a two phase flow. The protein samples are compartmentalized inside droplets, each one acting as an isolated microreactor.