A power compensated differential scanning calorimeter for protein stability characterization

Abstract

This paper presented a power compensated MEMS differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) for protein stability characterization. In this microfabricated sensor, PDMS (Polydimethylsiloxane) and polyimide were used to construct the adiabatic chamber (1μL) and temperature sensitive vanadium oxide was used as the thermistor material. A power compensation system was implemented to maintain the sample and reference at the same temperature. The resolution study and step response characterization indicated the high sensitivity (6V/W) and low noise level (60μk) of the device. The test with IgG1 antibody (mAb1) samples showed clear phase transitions and the data was confirmed to be reasonable by comparing it with the results of commercial DSC’s test. This device used ∼1uL sample amount and could complete the scanning process in 4min, significantly increasing the throughput of the bimolecular thermodynamics study like drug formulation process.