Current single-molecule force spectroscopy methods are limited by low throughput and high cost. This paper introduces a low-cost, high-throughput technique using microfluidics for multiplexed mechanical manipulation of molecules. The "molecular fluid loading on-a-chip" (FLO-Chip) uses serially connected microchannels of varying widths to test interactions at multiple loading rates simultaneously. The FLO-Chip's performance is validated by measuring the rupture forces of biotin-streptavidin, digoxigenin-antidigoxigenin interactions, and DNA unzipping under different conditions. Results align with previous studies, demonstrating the FLO-Chip's versatility and potential to broaden access to single-molecule force spectroscopy.

Ehsan Akbari, Melika Shahhosseini, Ariel Robbins, Michael G. Poirier, Jonathan W. Song, Carlos E. Castro