AdaptoCell – MAX IV

Project

AdaptoCell provides a microfluidic flow cell for academic and industrial users at MAX IV Laboratory. The flow cell is adaptable and will be integrated at three beamlines using different X-ray techniques. The available techniques are X-ray Absorption/Emission Spectroscopy (XAS/XES, Balder beamline) and Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS, CoSAXS beamline), and later it will be available for Serial Crystallography (SSX, MicroMAX beamline). The microfluidic flow cell allows for time-resolved studies and reduce the risk of radiation damage as the sample is continuously renewed.

The focus of the AdaptoCell project is on protein samples, but the AdaptoCell is a useful sample environment for various applications where it is crucial to have the sample under flow and/or to have small sample volumes. In the project several add-on techniques e.g. UV-vis spectroscopy and on-chip mixing will be integrated.

The AdaptoCell project is funded by SSF AdaptoCell for MAX IV Laboratory users

Interview with Dr. Kajsa Sigfridsson Clauss

Equipment

The AdaptoCell platform is at the moment available at Balder and under commissioning at CoSAXS. For information about the specific beamlines and their capabilities please check Balder, CoSAXS and MicroMAX beamline pages.

There is equipment available to perform microfluidic experiments at the beamlines. In the Biolab there is an offline test station to evaluate the samples and the microfluidic chips before the beamtime.

Flow system and microscope

A pressure-driven flow system is used to control the fluid flows. The following equipment is available at the beamlines and in the Biolab. Various microfluidic accessories are also available such as fluid connectors and tubing.

Item	Description
2 Flow controllers (OB1, Elveflow)	Unit 1: 3 channels between 0 and 200 mbar and 1 channel between (-1) and 1 bar Unit 2: 2 channels between 0 and 200 mbar and 2 channels between 0 and 2 bar
8 Flow sensors (MFS4, Elveflow)	Flow rate range ±1 mL/min for water
1 Three-way valve with valve controller (MUX wire, Elveflow)	MUX wire allows up to 8 valves to be controlled
1 Distribution valve (MUX Distrib, Elveflow)	Switch between 10 different samples
ESI Software (Elveflow)	Available at Elveflow's webpage
Optical microscope (Eclipse Ci, Nikon)	Only available in the Biolab The microfluidic chip is mounted vertically (hanging orientation) to resemble the situation at the beamline

Microfluidic chips

For the microfluidic chips there are different options depending on the sample and the experimental design. We have experience of using commercial polymer chips (e.g. COC chips from Microfluidic ChipShop) and microfluidic chips in other materials such as glass-silicon-glass (in collaboration with Customized Microfluidics, Uppsala University). User developed microfluidic chip solutions can also be used. Please contact us for more details.

Project members

AdaptoCell Team
Dr. Kajsa Sigfridsson Clauss	PI, MAX IV
Dr. Anna Fornell	Postdoc, MAX IV
Dr. Yang Chen	Biolab manager, MAX IV
Dr. Ann Terry	Researcher, MAX IV
Monika Bjelcic	PhD student, MAX IV
Dr. Ross Friel	Researcher, Halmstad University
Dr. Laurent Barbe	Researcher, Uppsala University

Dr. Pushparani Micheal Raj	Alumni, Postdoc, MAX IV