At-line bioprocess monitoring by immunoassay with rotationally controlled serial siphoning and integrated supercritical angle fluorescence optics.

In this paper we report a centrifugal microfluidic "lab-on-a-disc" system for at-line monitoring of human immunoglobulin G (hIgG) in a typical bioprocess environment. The novelty of this device is the combination of a heterogeneous sandwich immunoassay on a serial siphon-enabled microfluidic disc with automated sequential reagent delivery and surface-confined supercritical angle fluorescence (SAF)-based detection. The device, which is compact, easy-to-use and inexpensive, enables rapid detection of hIgG from a bioprocess sample.

Centrifugo-pneumatic valving utilizing dissolvable films.

In this article we introduce a novel technology that utilizes specialized water dissolvable thin films for valving in centrifugal microfluidic systems. In previous work (William Meathrel and Cathy Moritz, IVD Technologies, 2007), dissolvable films (DFs) have been assembled in laminar flow devices to form efficient sacrificial valves where DFs simply open by direct contact with liquid. Here, we build on the original DF valving scheme to leverage sophisticated, merely rotationally actuated vapour barriers and flow control for enabling comprehensive assay integration with low-complexity instrumentation on "lab-on-a-disc" platforms.

Sialic acids: carbohydrate moieties that influence the biological and physical properties of biopharmaceutical proteins and living cells.

Sialic acids are structurally diverse molecules that have important roles in the physiological reactions and characteristics of prokaryotes and eukaryotes. These include the ability to mask epitopes on underlying glycan chains and to repulse negatively charged moieties. Here, we describe the metabolism and immunological relevance of sialic acids and outline how their properties have been exploited by the pharmaceutical industry to enhance the therapeutic properties of proteins such as asparaginase and darbepoetin alpha.