Development and Optimization of droplet microfluidic-based high throughput screening system for industrial microbiology

Microbial high-throughput screening is derived from the traditional mutagenesis screening via the use of advanced automation and instrumental analysis technologies, with the characteristics of automation, standardization, and high throughput. This greatly exceeded the limitations of manual screening in the aspect of speed, efficiency and standardization. However, at present, various types of high-throughput screening systems are based on expensive and complicated large equipment, which were only produced by some foreign companies. There is no mature, small, low-cost and easy-to-handle high-throughput screening system available so far. To address this issue, based on the droplet microfluidics as well as the technologies of the cell microencapsulation and enzyme-coupled fluorescent reaction, we developed and optimized the miniaturized high-throughput screening system, which could run the sample separation or detection throughput in the range of 100-1000 per second. By replacing the different types of droplet microfluidic chip, the high-throughput screening system could be applied to screen different industrial enzymes and important biobased products which produced by Escherichia coli or Saccharomyces cerevisiae, etc. Our research project would play a significant role in promoting the development of industrial microbiology, and the potential commercialization of the equipment would also produce the great economic benefits.