ATOMICALLY-FLAT COMBINATORIAL SURFACE CHEMISTRY LIBRARIES FOR BIOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS

Abstract

FOR MANY YEARS METAL OXIDES AS DEPOSITED BY THE PULSED LASER DEPOSITION (PLD) TECHNIQUE HAVE BEEN UNDER THE LENS FOR THEIR INTERESTING ELECTRICAL AND MAGNETIC PROPERTIES. IN THE RECENT YEARS THESE METAL OXIDES HAVE SPAWNED A GREAT AMOUNT OF INTEREST DUE TO THEIR QUEER BIOLOGICAL RESPONSES. WHILE THIS FIELD OF RESEARCH IS STILL VERY MUCH UNEXPLORED, IT HAS BEEN PROVEN THAT NOT ALL METAL OXIDES BEHAVE SIMILARLY IN TERMS OF THEIR INTERACTION WITH LIVING CELLS. FOR EXAMPLE, ZNO IS A KNOWN ANTI-BACTERIAL AGENT WHILE TIO2 IS EXCELLENT IN TERMS OF BIOCOMPATIBILITY. THE LARGE NUMBER OF METAL OXIDES (AND POSSIBLE COMBINATIONS OF THEM) AND VARIOUS BIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS MAKES THIS RESEARCH LABORIOUS. SCREENING ONE BY ONE APPEARS NOT TO BE THE MOST EFFICIENT WAY OF DOING IT. HIGH THROUGHPUT SCREENING METHOD BECAME ESSENTIAL. IN THIS WORK ATOMICALLY-FLAT SURFACE CHEMISTRY LIBRARIES FOR BIOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS WERE DEVELOPED. DUE TO LOW ROUGHNESS OF THE SURFACE, PURE SURFACE CHEMISTRY EFFECT ON BIOLOGI