Optofluidic Waveguides for the Label-Free Study of Silk Protein Aggregates.

ABSTRACT: Methods for studying protein aggregation are crucial to understanding the associated disease pathologies and for functional biomaterial synthesis in nature and in the laboratory. The ideal measurement platform is low-volume, label-free, and noncontact, as well as easily integrated into continuous-flow microfluidic experiments to provide scalability. Current approaches realize only a subset of these requirements. Here, we demonstrate a new technique for studying protein aggregates and in situ aggregation within hollow-core photonic crystal fibers. These optofluidic waveguides allow us to perform continuous-flow microfluidic label-free analysis of silk fibroin protein in the form of preformed nanofibrillar aggregates and on the native protein as it undergoes aggregation in situ

SUBMITTER: Heck JR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12509126 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature