Invited Paper BP-SuA1
Wants, Needs, and Challenges in Biomedical Surface Analysis

Sunday, October 30, 2011, 3:00 pm, Room 108

Biomedical surface analysis has undergone significant and numerous advances in the past 30 years in terms of improved instrumentation, introduction of new techniques, development of sophisticated data analysis methods, and the increasing complexity of samples analyzed. Comprehensive analysis of surfaces and surface immobilized biomolecules (peptides, proteins, DNA, etc.) with modern surface analysis instrumentation provides an unprecedented level of detail about the immobilization process and the structure of the immobilized biomolecules. Results from x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS or ESCA), time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), near edge x-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS), surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensing, atomic force microscopy, and sum frequency generation (SFG) vibrational spectroscopy provide important information about the attachment, orientation, conformation, etc. of biomolecules. However, even with the advances that have been achieved with these powerful surface analysis techniques, there still remains many significant challenges for biomedical surface analysis. These include characterizing the surface chemistry and structure of nanoparticles, determining the structure of protein bound to surfaces, and maintaining biomolecules and materials in a biological relevant state when using ultra-high vacuum based analysis techniques.