Surfaces with micropatterned protein lines and dots have been widely used in the development of protein microarrays, biosensors, and many other devices. In this presentation, we report two simple ways of preparing protein micropatterns on solid surfaces. The first one is a one-step UV activation method to transform inert and hydrophobic surfaces into hydrophilic surfaces for protein immobilization. This technique can be applied to activate unmodified polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) or surfaces coated with self-assembled monolayers under ambient environment. Moreover, when a metallic photomask such as TEM grid or chrome mask is employed, various protein micropatterns with a minimum width of 2 mm can be created on the surface. Our XPS results and controlled reducing experiments showed that UV exposure leads to the transformation inert monolayers into active surfaces with aldehyde groups, which are responsible for the covalent immobilization of proteins. Secondly, we develop a simple method of creating well-defined micropatterned nanostructures on the surface a flat PDMS stamp, making it suitable for microcontact printing of proteins. This method only requires a UV lamp (254 nm) and a TEM grid (as a photomask) to modify the surface of PDMS under ambient conditions for creating desired micropatterns.  By using the UV-modified stamp, a printed protein micropattern that resembles the original TEM grid can be obtained. Applications of periodic and micropatterned protein lines for developing immunoassays will also be discussed in this presentation.

Two simple ways of creating protein micropatterns on solid surfaces

243rd National Meeting (2012)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.