| AVS 55th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Biological, Organic, and Soft Materials Focus Topic | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session BO+PS+AS+BI+SS-TuA |
| Session: | Plasma-deposited Polymer and Organic Surfaces in Biological Applications |
| Presenter: | P. Colpo, European Commission Joint Research Centre, Italy |
| Authors: | A. Valsesia, European Commission Joint Research Centre, Italy P. Colpo, European Commission Joint Research Centre, Italy I. Mannelli, European Commission Joint Research Centre, Italy G. Ceccone, European Commission Joint Research Centre, Italy F. Rossi, European Commission Joint Research Centre, Italy |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Immunosensors play a very important role for the development of Point-of-Care analysis thanks to their rapid and sensitive detection capabilities.1 Among others, the control of the interface between the transducer and the biological probes is a crucial issue since the bio-interface is the essential element that guaranty the bioactivity of the immobilized biological probes.2 The control of the bio-interface is typically addressed by functionalizing the surface with special chemical groups. Besides, new nanobiotechnology-based tools have led to more sophisticated approaches that use for instance nanostructured surfaces. Benefits have been already shown in terms of the improvement of immunoreaction efficiency.3 In this work we propose a new method for fabricating nanostrucured surfaces combining the use of colloidal masks with different plasma processes. In this method, Plasma Polymerization Processes are able to produce pinhole-free functional layers with different properties. The choice of the precursor together with the appropriate plasma processing parameter ensures the production of stable functional layers which can be used for the production of the chemically contrasted nanopatterns. Also the deposition of the colloidal mask in a controlled way is essential: for example, mass sensitive detectors (like Quartz Crystal Microbalance, QCM) require the use of very large areas in order to obtain measurable signals. Also plasma etching plays a very important role: it is important to choose the suitable processing parameters enabling the fabrication of nanostructured surface which are not limited in the patterning geometry and resolution. After the optimization of the nanofabrication process, the surfaces of immunosensors have been nanostructured. In particular we transferred the nanostructures on the crystals of QCM for on-line monitoring of the protein adhesion. The nanostructures accelerate the kinetics of absorption and increase the density of absorbed molecules, resulting in higher bioactivity of the immobilized proteins and consequently in an improvement of the immunosensing performances.
1 K. R. Rogers, Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology - Part B Molecular Biotechnology 2000, 14, 109-129.
2 B. Kasemo, Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science 1998, 3, 451-459.
3 A. Valsesia, P. Colpo, T. Meziani, P. Lisboa, M. Lejeune, and F. Rossi, Langmuir 2006, 22, 1763-1767.