Combining microfluidics and synchrotron SAXS

Lise Arleth

Proteins and other macromolecular systems adopt different structural conformations as a direct response to their local environment, as defined both in terms of, e.g., pH, salt concentration, temperature, and by their participation in larger complexes. For this reason, the dependence between structural conformation and the local environment lies at the heart of understanding biomacromolecular function and is the core issue when exploiting and manipulating biomacromolecules with pharmaceutical and biotechnological applications in mind. In the last few years microfluidics based techniques have been proposed from several sides as the answer to the combined request of gaining access to high-throughput screening of proteins under a large number of solution conditions while at the same time minimizing the sample consumption. The combination of microfluidics with SAXS has been investigated by a few pioneering groups and the approach appears particularly promising in combination with the very intense beams at modern synchrotron SAXS facilities. The lecture will give an overview of recent results within the field and pin-point and discuss some of the central challenges.

Date/time: Tuesday, 23 October 2012, 10:00