Straightforward production of encoded microbeads by Flow Focusing: potential applications for biomolecule detection

Fluorescently encoded polymeric microparticles are acquiring great importance in the development of simultaneous multianalyte screening assays. We have developed a very versatile and straightforward method for the production of dye-labeled microparticles with a very reproducible size distribution and freely-chosen and discernible fluorescent properties. Our method combines Flow Focusing technology with a solvent evaporation/extraction procedure in a single step, yielding spherical, non-aggregate and non-porous particles. We have designed a multi-coloured bead array which includes the possibility of modifying the surface properties of the microparticles, which offer excellent properties for covalent attachment of biomolecules such as peptides, oligonucleotides, proteins, etc. We also show the potential of the fluorescently labeled microspheres for the detection of biomolecule (peptides and oligonucelotides) interactions using flow cytometry.