Controlled surface chemistry will introduce molecular recognition and specificity. Integration with cell mechanics probed by AFM will bring new insights into cellular processes. Using self-assembly of block copolymer micelle loaded metal precursors, combined with a further seeding-growth route, a newly developed approach was demonstrated to create ordered gold nanoparticle (AuNP) arrays with a series of controllable sizes on almost any solid substrate.  As an example, the optical response of AuNP arrays to local refractive indices can be characterized by the extinction spectra, and compared with theoretical simulations based on the AuNPs size, inter-particle spacing, and embedding ratio. AuNP arrays functionalized with lipid bilayers (cell membrane analog) and lipid binding proteins (cell surface marker analog) can be used to test our hypothesis that NP array enhanced sub-wavelength imaging may be obtained by p-TIRF. Quantitative evaluation and optimization are proposed to further explore the detection sensitivity of e.g., cancer cell surface markers.

Correlated imaging and force mapping on model membranes and cell surface markers

245th National Meeting (2013)

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