Simple approach to study biomolecule adsorption in polymeric microfluidic channels.

g r a p h i c a l a b s t r a c t ® a b s t r a c t Herein a simple analytical method is presented for the characterization of biomolecule adsorption on cyclo olefin polymer (COP, trade name: Zeonor®) substrates which are widely used in microfluidic lab- on-a-chip devices. These Zeonor ® substrates do not possess native functional groups for specific reactions with biomolecules. Therefore, depending on the application, such substrates must be functionalized by surface chemistry methods to either enhance or suppress biomolecular adsorption. This work demon- strates a microfluidic method for evaluating the adsorption of antibodies and oligonucleotides surfaces. The method uses centrifugal microfluidic flow-through chips and can easily be implemented using com- mon equipment such as a spin coater. The working principle is very simple. The user adds 40 L of the solution containing the sample to the starting side of a microfluidic channel, where it is moved through by centrifugal force. Some molecules are adsorbed in the channel. The sample is then collected at the other end in a small reservoir and the biomolecule concentration is measured. As a pilot application, we characterized the adsorption of goat anti-human IgG and a 20-mer DNA on Zeonor®, and on three types of functionalized Zeonor: 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) modified surface with mainly pos- itive charge, negatively charged surface with immobilized bovine serum albumin (BSA), and neutral, hydrogel-like film with polyethylene glycol (PEG) characteristics. This simple analytical approach adds to the fundamental understanding of the interaction forces in real, microfluidic systems. This method