Lipids play a critical role in neurological function, aside from the obvious role of serving as the cell membrane, but there are questions that will be increasingly difficult to answer without better tools. Lipid metabolism is extremely complex, with multiple pathways and complicated feedback and regulation, so understanding dynamics of essential lipid function requires the ability to profile lipids in cellular systems with high spatial and temporal resolution. This research will be focused on developing microfluidic approaches to three critical areas: derivatization or fluorescent tagging at low concentrations, efficient sample extraction and preparation, and coupling class separation techniques to high resolution (profiling) separations. This work will significantly enhance and influence the direction of current Johnson group projects aimed at understanding the role of lipid primary amides in neurological function. To accomplish these three goals, we will develop novel microfluidic systems based on Quake's integrated microfluidic systems and conventional glass microchip separation systems for low-volume, efficient derivatization, online extraction and preseparation of lipids, and coupling of planar chromatograpic class separation with high resolution/high speed chip-based separation.
| Johnson, Mitchell E; Landers, James P (2004) Fundamentals and practice for ultrasensitive laser-induced fluorescence detection in microanalytical systems. Electrophoresis 25:3513-27 |
