Experimental validation of a Label-free Immobilization-free mm wave sensor in different biological and pharmaceutical applications

An in-house developed Label-free Immobilization-free mm-wave sensor has shown its potential in various applications[1][2]. We present the experimental results in the field of HPLC(high performance liquid chromatography), protein binding and protein crystallization. In HPLC measurement, the results of mm-wave sensor is compared with UV-sensor integrated on the HPLC machine. It is shown that for both UV and non-UV absorbing samples, mm-wave sensor can be used as detection tool without labelling. By probing the protein molecules and the hydration shell around them, mm-wave sensor is also sensitive to the existence of protein in a solution with a current detection limit of 1 mg/ml. In protein binding experiment, the mm wave sensor detects the difference between binding and non-binding groups. Last but not least, the sensor demonstrates its capability to track protein crystallization process and the potential to derive induction time.