High throughput discovery of new fouling-resistant surfaces

A novel high throughput method for synthesis and screening of customized protein-resistant surfaces was developed. This method is an inexpensive, fast, reproducible and scalable approach to synthesize and screen protein-resistant surfaces appropriate for a specific feed. The method is illustrated here by combining a high throughput platform (HTP) approach together with our patented photo-induced graft polymerization (PGP) method developed for facile modification of commercial poly(aryl sulfone) membranes. We demonstrate that the HTP–PGP approach to synthesize and screen fouling-resistant surfaces is general, and thus provides the capability to develop surfaces optimized for specific feeds. Surfaces were prepared viagraft polymerization onto poly(ether sulfone) (PES) membranes and were evaluated using a protein adsorption assay followed by pressure-driven filtration. We have employed the HTP–PGP approach to confirm previously reported successful monomers and to develop new anti-fouling surfaces from a library of 66 monomers for four different challenges of interest to the biotechnology community: hen egg-white lysozyme, supernatant from Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) solution as a model cell suspension, and immunoglobulin G (IgG) precipitated in the absence and presence of bovine serum albumin (BSA) in high salt solution as a model precipitation process.