Nonspecific binding removal from protein microarrays using thickness shear mode resonators

Nonspecific binding is a universal problem that reduces bioassay sensitivity and specificity. We demonstrate that ultrasonic waves, generated by 5-MHz quartz crystal resonators, accelerate nonspecifically bound protein desorption from sensing and nonsensing areas of micropatterned protein arrays, controllably and nondestructively cleaning the micropatterns. Nonsensing area fluorescent intensity values dropped by more than 85% and sensing area …