| AVS 60th International Symposium and Exhibition | |
| Biomaterial Interfaces | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session BI-TuP |
| Session: | Biomaterials Interfaces Poster Session |
| Presenter: | H.J. Askew, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia |
| Authors: | H.J. Askew, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia S.M. McArthur, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
The cell membrane encases and protects cellular components and plays an important role in transport, signalling and disease . Studying membrane behaviour is a challenging task due to the complexity and scale on which these processes occur. Supported lipid bilayers (SLBs) have provided researchers with stable and reproducible platforms to recreate cell membrane environments. The planar structure of the model means a variety of patterning techniques can be employed to recreate membrane architecture on both a micro and nanoscale. In particular pre-patterned substrates are of great interest as they eliminate complications associated with preserving membrane integrity during patterning. Plasma polymers provide a versatile method of creating thin films with a variety of different surface chemistries. In this work we explore the behaviour of plasma coatings in aqueous conditions and the use of plasma films for creating patterned SLBs using vesicle collapse. A variety of micropatterned surface chemistries were formed using commonly used plasma polymers such as allylamine and acrylic acid combined with standard UV photolithography techniques. Characterisation of film behaviour and bilayer formation was conducted using a variety of techniques including ellipsometry, quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D), confocal microscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM). This study adds to the currently limited literature considering plasma film behaviour in aqueous conditions. Plasma coatings provide a versatile technique for micropatterning SLBs and have advantages over other commonly used techniques such as microcontact printing which suffers from PDMS contamination. Further optimisation of the plasma patterning process may yield increased resolution and chemistries to aid the development of increasingly complex SLB systems.