Label-free discrimination of membrane-translocating peptides on porous silicon microfluidic biosensors

A label-free optical sensor was constructed by integrating electrochemically etched porous silicon (pSi) and supported phospholipid bilayers in a microfluidic chip. The translocation of peptides through the phospholipid bilayers could induce a red shift in effective optical thickness of the pSi layer, which could be monitored by reflective interferometric Fourier transform spectroscopy. By measuring the kinetic data of membrane translocating on the phospholipid bilayers/pSi chip, the relationship between the behavior of membrane-translocating peptides (MTPs) and translocating mechanism was established. With these optical data, MTPs with different action modes on the cell membrane can be correctly discriminated. The bio-functionalized microfluidic sensor will provide a reliable and cost-effective platform to study the transmembrane behavior of peptides, which is of great importance in the MTP screening and peptide function study.