Light-Assisted Drying (LAD) is a novel biopreservation technique which allows proteins to be immobilized in a dry, amorphous solid at room temperature. Indicator proteins are used in a variety of diagnostic assays ranging from highthroughput 96-well plates to new microfluidic devices. A challenge in the development of protein-based assays is preserving the structure of the protein during production and storage of the assay, as the structure of the protein is responsible for its functional activity. Freeze-drying or freezing are currently the standard for the preservation of proteins, but these methods are expensive and can be challenging in some environments due to a lack of available infrastructure. An inexpensive, simple processing method that enables supra-zero temperature storage of proteins used in assays is needed. Light-assisted drying offers a relatively inexpensive method for drying samples. Proteins suspended in a trehalose solution are dehydrated using near-infrared laser light. The laser radiation speeds drying and as water is removed the sugar forms a protective matrix. In this set of studies we investigate the effect varying protein concentration and protein size on EMC. We also test the functionality of a model protein, lysozyme, after LAD processing compared to air drying, samples incubated at a temperature comparable to LAD, and a control solution kept at 8°C.

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Madison A. Young, Gloria D. Elliott, and Susan R. Trammell, "Effect of light-assisted drying (LAD) on protein functionality," Proc. SPIE 10869, Optics and Biophotonics in Low-Resource Settings V, 108690U (Presented at SPIE BiOS: February 03, 2019; Published: 26 February 2019); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2508178.