title: Programmable microfluidic synthesis of spectrally encoded microspheres.
abstract: Spectrally encoded fluorescent beads are an attractive platform for assay miniaturization and multiplexing in the biological sciences. Here, we synthesize hydrophilic PEG-acrylate polymer beads encoded with lanthanide nanophosphors using a fully automated microfluidic synthesis device. These beads are encoded by including varying amounts of two lanthanide nanophosphors relative to a third reference nanophosphor to generate 24 distinct ratios. These codes differ by less than 3% from their target values and can be distinguished from each other with an error rate of <0.1%. The encoded bead synthesis strategy we have used is readily extensible to larger numbers of codes, potentially up to millions, providing a new platform technology for assay multiplexing.
authors.affiliation: UC San Francisco/UC Berkeley Joint Graduate Group in Bioengineering, San Francisco, CA 94158-2517, USA.
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Gerver
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gómez-Sjöberg
authors.forename: B C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Baxter
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Thorn
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Fordyce
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Diaz-Botia
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Helms
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: DeRisi
mesh_terms: D000180:Acrylic Resins / Q000737:chemistry; D060326:Chemistry Techniques, Synthetic; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry*; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D028581:Lanthanoid Series Elements / Q000737:chemistry; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008863:Microspheres; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000180:Acrylic Resins; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D028581:Lanthanoid Series Elements; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; C006903:carbopol 940