Starting with a sample that has a protein of interest, the protein is encapsulated within a gel matrix in droplet form. This creates a smaller test volume and also isolates the protein of interest. The process of droplet making is controlled via a microfluidic device.

Once the protein is encapsulated within the droplet, another layer of oil is formed around the protein gel droplet. This emulsifies the beads and prevents them from clumping and being damaged from shear stress. The oil layer is added via the microfluidic device simultaneously to bead creation.

The oil layer is removed from the droplet so that antibody conjugation can occur. The protein beads are re-suspended in an antibody solution. These capture antibodies will bind to the protein of interest, if present in the bead. Additionally, the capture antibodies will contain an mRNA oligonucleotide.

The protein-antibody conjugated droplets will then again be encapsulated utilizing the microfluidic device. The second encapsulation will use a qPCR master mix.

qPCR will be run on the droplet samples. Utilizing the oligonucleotide, that sequence will be amplified and once a threshold is reached, the fluorescence can be used to quantify the protein in the original sample.