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Temperature sculpting in yoctoliter volumes.

ABSTRACT: The ability to perturb large ensembles of molecules from equilibrium led to major advances in understanding reaction mechanisms in chemistry and biology. Here, we demonstrate the ability to control, measure, and make use of rapid temperature changes in fluid volumes that are commensurate with the size of single molecules. The method is based on attaching gold nanoparticles to a single nanometer-scale pore formed by a protein ion channel. Visible laser light incident on the nanoparticles causes a rapid and large increase of the adjacent solution temperature, which is estimated from the change in the nanopore ionic conductance. The temperature shift also affects the ability of individual molecules to enter into and interact with the nanopore. This technique could significantly improve sensor systems and force measurements based on single nanopores, thereby enabling a method for single molecule thermodynamics and kinetics.

SUBMITTER: Reiner JE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3892765 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Temperature sculpting in yoctoliter volumes.

Reiner Joseph E JE Robertson Joseph W F JW Burden Daniel L DL Burden Lisa K LK Balijepalli Arvind A Kasianowicz John J JJ

Journal of the American Chemical Society 20130214 8

The ability to perturb large ensembles of molecules from equilibrium led to major advances in understanding reaction mechanisms in chemistry and biology. Here, we demonstrate the ability to control, measure, and make use of rapid temperature changes in fluid volumes that are commensurate with the size of single molecules. The method is based on attaching gold nanoparticles to a single nanometer-scale pore formed by a protein ion channel. Visible laser light incident on the nanoparticles causes a ...[more]

PMID: 23347384

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Project description:Measuring the temperature of a sample is a fundamental need in many biological and chemical processes. When the volume of the sample is on the microliter or nanoliter scale (e.g., cells, microorganisms, precious samples, or samples in microfluidic devices), accurate measurement of the sample temperature becomes challenging. In this work, we demonstrate a technique for accurately determining the temperature of microliter volumes using a simple 3D-printed microfluidic chip. We accomplish this by first filling "microfluidic thermometer" channels on the chip with substances with precisely known freezing/melting points. We then use a thermoelectric cooler to create a stable and linear temperature gradient along these channels within a measurement region on the chip. A custom software tool (available as online Supporting Information) is then used to find the locations of solid-liquid interfaces in the thermometer channels; these locations have known temperatures equal to the freezing/melting points of the substances in the channels. The software then uses the locations of these interfaces to calculate the temperature at any desired point within the measurement region. Using this approach, the temperature of any microliter-scale on-chip sample can be measured with an uncertainty of about a quarter of a degree Celsius. As a proof-of-concept, we use this technique to measure the unknown freezing point of a 50 microliter volume of solution and demonstrate its feasibility on a 400 nanoliter sample. Additionally, this technique can be used to measure the temperature of any on-chip sample, not just near-zero-Celsius freezing points. We demonstrate this by using an oil that solidifies near room temperature (coconut oil) in a microfluidic thermometer to measure on-chip temperatures well above zero Celsius. By providing a low-cost and simple way to accurately measure temperatures in small volumes, this technique should find applications in both research and educational laboratories.

Dataset Information

Temperature sculpting in yoctoliter volumes.

Publications

Temperature sculpting in yoctoliter volumes.

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