High throughput discovery of new fouling-resistant surfaces

A novel high throughput method for synthesis and screening of customized protein-resistant surfaces was developed. This method is an inexpensive, fast, reproducible and scalable approach to synthesize and screen protein-resistant surfaces appropriate for a specific feed. The method is illustrated here by combining a high throughput platform (HTP) approach together with our patented photo-induced graft polymerization (PGP) method developed for facile modification of commercial poly(aryl sulfone) membranes. We demonstrate that the HTP-PGP approach to synthesize and screen fouling-resistant surfaces is general, and thus provides the capability to develop surfaces optimized for specific feeds. Surfaces were prepared via graft polymerization onto poly(ether sulfone) (PES) membranes and were evaluated using a protein adsorption assay followed by pressure-driven filtration. We have employed the HTP-PGP approach to confirm previously reported successful monomers and to develop new antifouling surfaces from a library of 66 monomers for four different challenges of interest to the biotechnology community: hen egg-white lysozyme, supernatant from Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) solution as a model cell suspension, and immunoglobulin G (IgG) precipitated in the absence and presence of bovine serum albumin (BSA) in high salt solution as a model precipitation process.