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Site-Selective Adsorption of Human Serum Albumin on Defect Arrays:

A tapping mode SFM study

A. Bergman*, J. Herbig, A. Quist, C. Reimann, B. Sundqvist, et al.

Ion Physics Group, Uppsala University

This is an abstract for a poster to be presented at the Fifth Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology.

Well-ordered arrays of defects were prepared on a silicon surface using a finely focused ion beam (FIB). The defects were examined with a scanning force microscope (SFM) operated in the tapping mode^TM (TM-SFM). The defects were holes with an estimated diameter of 50 nm, and the spacing between individual defects was about 160 nm.

The surface was exposed to a solution of human serum albumin (HSA) for two minutes, rinsed, dried, and studied with TM-SFM. The images show that the rims of the defects were decorated with HSA molecles, whereas the area between the defects was free from adsorbed proteins.

This clearly demonstrates the high preferential adsorption of albumin molecules to defect edges. Using FIB, surface defects can be tailored with precision in order to obtain well ordered arrays of proteins on surfaces, useful for applications like biosensors and molecular memories. The marking of arrays enables the possibility to study the same individual proteins and protein clusters before and after interaction with other species of molecules. As a first test, docking experiments will be performed between site-selectively adsorbed HSA and different antibodies.

*Corresponding Address:
Anna Bergman, Division of Ion Physics, Uppsala University, Box 534, S-751 21 Uppsala, Sweden, ph: +46-18-183056, fax: +46-18-555736, email: bergman@teknikum.uu.se
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