Microfluidic Dielectrophoretic Screening System

To address the U.S. Army/DTRA’s CBD program need for a robust screening process for use with large panels of enzymes to identify variants with higher affinity for organophosphorus (OP) substrates, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a Microfluidic Dielectrophoretic Screening (MDS) system. This proposed system is based on the new design of a microfluidic mixer, enzymatic reactor, and readout unit that uses in-house developed mature components. The innovations in the MDS system will enable the completion of enzyme kinetic measurements in 15 minutes. Also, the MDS system requires nanogram quantities of an enzyme; and the microfluidic chip is self-contained, reusable, and sufficiently robust to withstand routine cleaning with highly basic and alcoholic solutions. As a result, this technology will provide the DoD with an improved capability to develop novel scavengers of OP nerve agents. In Phase I, POC will demonstrate the feasibility of the MDS system by developing a robust and high-throughput prototype capable of identifying enzyme variants with reduced KM values for OP compounds. In Phase II, POC plans to further develop, refine, and validate the MDS system, using nerve agent simulants followed by validation with OP nerve agents, at a testing facility approved for using these materials.