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A microfluidic platform for the characterisation of membrane active antimicrobials.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

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Authors

Hammond, K 
Deshpande, S 

Abstract

The spread of bacterial resistance against conventional antibiotics generates a great need for the discovery of novel antimicrobials. Polypeptide antibiotics constitute a promising class of antimicrobial agents that favour attack on bacterial membranes. However, efficient measurement platforms for evaluating their mechanisms of action in a systematic manner are lacking. Here we report an integrated lab-on-a-chip multilayer microfluidic platform to quantify the membranolytic efficacy of such antibiotics. The platform is a biomimetic vesicle-based screening assay, which generates giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) in physiologically relevant buffers on demand. Hundreds of these GUVs are individually immobilised downstream in physical traps connected to separate perfusion inlets that facilitate controlled antibiotic delivery. Antibiotic efficacy is expressed as a function of the time needed for an encapsulated dye to leak out of the GUVs as a result of antibiotic treatment. This proof-of-principle study probes the dose response of an archetypal polypeptide antibiotic cecropin B on GUVs mimicking bacterial membranes. The results of the study provide a foundation for engineering quantitative, high-throughput microfluidics devices for screening antibiotics.

Description

Keywords

Anti-Bacterial Agents, Cell Membrane, Drug Evaluation, Preclinical, Insect Proteins, Microfluidic Analytical Techniques, Unilamellar Liposomes

Journal Title

Lab Chip

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1473-0197
1473-0189

Volume Title

19

Publisher

Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
Sponsorship
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/M008827/1)
European Research Council (647144)
National Physical Laboratory (NPL) (Unknown)
-Trinity College, University of Cambridge (Trinity-Henry Barlow Scholarship) -H2020 European Research Council Advanced grants SynDiv (no. 669598), Consolidator Grant Designer- Pores (no. 647144) -Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Frontiers of Nanoscience program -Winton Programme for the Physics of Sustainability -Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council -Friedrich-Naumann-Foundation -National Physical Laboratory EPSRC CASE -Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy -European Metrology Research Programme (EMRP)