Straightforward protein immobilization on Sylgard 184 PDMS microarray surface

In this work, a straightforward technique for protein immobilization on Sylgard 184 is described. The method consists of a direct transfer of dried protein/salt solutions to the PDMS interface during the polymer curing. Such non-conventional treatment of proteins was found to have no major negative consequence on their integrity. The mechanisms of this direct immobilization were investigated using a lysine modified dextran molecule as a model. Clear experimental results suggested that both chemical bounding and molding effect were implicated. As a proof of concept study, three different proteins were immobilized on a single microarray (Arachis hypogaea lectin, rabbit IgG, and human IgG) and used as antigens for capture of chemiluminescent immunoassays. The proteins were shown to be easily recognized by their specific antibodies, giving antibody detection limits in the fmol range.