| A microfluidic device denoted the Phase Chip has been developed to exploit the permeation of water through poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) in order to vary the concentration of aqueous nanoliter volume microdrops stored in wells. The permeation of water in the Phase Chip is modeled using the diffusion equation and good agreement between experiment and theory is obtained. The phase diagram of a polymer/salt mixture is measured employing the Phase Chip and agrees well with the phase diagram obtained off-chip. The Phase Chip first creates drops of the polymer/salt mixture whose composition varies sequentially. Subsequently the drops are docked in storage wells and the concentration of each stored drop is controlled by varying the water activity of a reservoir that is separated from the drops by a thin layer of PDMS through which water, but not the solutes, permeates.; The Phase Chip, incorporating a dialysis membrane on-chip, presents several advantages for protein crystallizations. First, protein crystallization is a non-equilibrium process so it makes sense to have dynamic control over the key thermodynamic variable; concentration. The Phase Chip, with its ability to reversibly control protein and precipitant concentrations, renders varying concentration as convenient as varying temperature. Second, by varying the water content of each drop we can explore many different crystallization conditions in the same drop. Finally, we have demonstrated that we can first formulate stable protein solutions, next induce nucleation and then grow large protein crystals. For these reasons, the Phase Chip promises to be a faster, better, and cheaper method for protein crystallization. |
