QUANTIFYING INTERACTIONS OF BIOMOLECULES WITH INORGANIC SURFACES

Abstract

UNDERSTANDING INTERACTIONS BETWEEN BIOMOLECULES AND SYNTHETIC SURFACES ARE CRUCIAL TO OUR KNOWLEDGE OF SEVERAL KEY BIOCHEMICAL SCIENTIFIC DOMAINS. WE BEGIN BY TAKING A CLOSER LOOK AT THE SIMPLEST BIOMOLECULE, WATER. A NEW METHOD TO LOCALLY PROBE CONTACT ANGLE AND SURFACE ENERGIES, IN THE NANOMETRE SCALE, WAS DEVELOPED AND THE RESULTS CORRELATE VERY WELL TO THE MACROSCOPICALLY MEASURED VALUES. SUBSEQUENTLY, WE STUDIED INTERACTIONS OF PHOSPHOLIPIDS WITH METAL OXIDE SURFACES WITH A CLOSE VIEW ON FABRICATING BETTER SOLID PHASE EXTRACTION RESINS TO IMPROVE LIPID FRACTION ENRICHMENT. WE ALSO DEMONSTRATE A VERY SENSITIVE METHOD OF QUANTIFYING PHOSPHOLIPID ADHESION TO METAL OXIDE SURFACES USING THE PHENOMENON OF SURFACE PLASMON RESONANCE. FINALLY, WE STUDY INTERACTIONS OF PLASMA PROTEINS WITH THE SURFACE OF MODIFIED AND UNMODIFIED NANOPARTICLES. WE HAVE DEVELOPED A SURFACE PLASMON RESONANCE BASED HIGH-THROUGHPUT SCREENING PROTOCOL TO STUDY THE PROTEIN CORONA FORMATION ON NANOPARTICLES. THIS