A thin permeable-membrane device for single-molecule manipulation.

Single-molecule manipulation instruments have unparalleled abilities to interrogate the structure and elasticity of single biomolecules. Key insights are derived by measuring the system response in varying solution conditions; yet, typical solution control strategies require imposing a direct fluid flow on the measured biomolecule that perturbs the high-sensitivity measurement and/or removes interacting molecules by advection. An alternate approach is to fabricate devices that permit solution changes by diffusion of the introduced species through permeable membranes, rather than by direct solution flow through the sensing region. Prior implementations of permeable-membrane devices are relatively thick, disallowing their use in apparatus that require the simultaneous close approach of external instrumentation from two sides, as occurs in single-molecule manipulation devices like the magnetic tweezer. Here, we describe the construction and use of a thin microfluidic device appropriate for single-molecule studies. We create a flow cell of only ∼500 μm total thickness by sandwiching glass coverslips around a thin plastic gasket and then create permeable walls between laterally separated channels in situ through photo-induced cross-linking of poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate hydrogels. We show that these membranes permit passage of ions and small molecules (thus permitting solution equilibration in the absence of direct flow), but the membranes block the passage of larger biomolecules (thus retaining precious samples). Finally, we demonstrate the suitability of the device for high-resolution magnetic-tweezer experiments by measuring the salt-dependent folding of a single RNA hairpin under force.