Acoustic microfluidic chip technology to facilitate automation of phage display selection

Modern tools in proteomics require access to large arrays of specific binders for use in multiplex array formats, such as microarrays, to decipher complex biological processes. Combinatorial protein libraries offer a solution to the generation of collections of specific binders, but unit operations in the process to isolate binders from such libraries must be automatable to ensure an efficient procedure. In the present study, we show how a microfluidic concept that utilizes particle separation in an acoustic force field can be used to efficiently separate antigen-bound from unbound members of such libraries in a continuous flow format. Such a technology has the hallmarks for incorporation in a fully automated selection system for the isolation of specific binders.