Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 8, 2026

Digital Microfluidics for Automated Proteomic Processing
Published on: November 6, 2009
UV embossed polymeric chip for protein separation and identification based on capillary isoelectric focusing and
Xun Guo1, Mary B Chan-Park, Soon Fatt Yoon
1Singapore-MIT Alliance, N2-B2c-15, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798.
Abstract:
This paper demonstrates a ultraviolet (UV)-embossed polymeric chip for protein separation by capillary isoelectric focusing (CIEF) and identification by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). The polymeric chip was replicated by a UV-embossing technique using a soft rubber mold. Five diverse widely investigated families of UV-cured formulations were examined for MALDI ionization efficiency of bovine serum albumin (BSA) samples spotted on the polymer surfaces. The signal and signal-to-noise ratio from the polyester formulation were each 12 times those obtained with PMMA (a commonly used polymer material for MALDI) at picomole sample concentration. A polyester chip was successfully used to carry out CIEF to separate proteins, followed by MALDI-TOF-MS identification. Issues related to the successful chip fabrication and protein separation and identification are discussed.
Related Concept Videos
Capillary Electrophoresis: Applications
Capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) separates ionic components based on their electrophoretic mobility. It has been used to separate proteins, amino acids,...
Two-dimensional Gel Electrophoresis
The first dimension separation uses the isoelectric focusing or IEF technique performed on immobilized pH gradient (IPG) strips that separate proteins according to their isoelectric points.
Biological samples, such as cells...
Capillary Electrophoresis: Instrumentation
Peptide Identification Using Tandem Mass Spectrometry
This technique helps gather information regarding the protein from which the peptide was obtained and to study the peptides’ amino acid sequence. Identifying peptides from a complex mixture is an important component of the growing field of...
SDS-PAGE
A variation of gel electrophoresis, termed polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE), is commonly used for separating proteins according to their molecular size by passing them through a polyacrylamide gel. Because of the varying charges associated with amino acid side chains, PAGE can be used to separate intact proteins...
