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In Pursuit of Zero: Polymer Brushes that Resist the Adsorption of Proteins
Author(s) -
Hucknall Angus,
Rangarajan Srinath,
Chilkoti Ashutosh
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.200900383
Subject(s) - protein adsorption , materials science , ethylene glycol , polymer , adsorption , polymerization , nanotechnology , fouling , resist , adhesion , protein microarray , biosensor , polymer brush , biofouling , chemical engineering , chemistry , membrane , dna microarray , organic chemistry , biochemistry , composite material , layer (electronics) , gene expression , engineering , gene
Protein resistant or “non‐fouling” surfaces are of great interest for a variety of biomedical and biotechnology applications. This article briefly reviews the development of protein resistant surfaces, followed by recent research on a new methodology to fabricate non‐fouling surfaces by surface‐initiated polymerization. We show that polymer brushes synthesized by surface‐initiated polymerization that present short oligo(ethylene glycol) side chains are exceptionally resistant to protein adsorption and cell adhesion. The importance of the protein and cell resistance conferred by these polymer brushes is illustrated by their use as substrates for the fabrication of antibody microarrays that exhibit femtomolar limits of detection in complex fluids such as serum and blood with relaxed requirements for intermediate wash steps. This example highlights the important point that the reduction in background noise afforded by protein‐resistant surfaces can greatly simplify the development of ultrasensitive heterogeneous, surface‐based clinical and proteomic assays with increased sensitivity and utility.