AVS 50th International Symposium
    Biomaterial Interfaces Wednesday Sessions
       Session BI-WeM

Paper BI-WeM8
Nanoparticle Transport Using Microtubules and Motor Proteins

Wednesday, November 5, 2003, 10:40 am, Room 317

Session: Bionanoscale Analysis: Theory to Experiment
Presenter: B.C. Bunker, Sandia National Laboratories
Authors: B.C. Bunker, Sandia National Laboratories
G.D. Bachand, Sandia National Laboratories
A.K. Boal, Sandia National Laboratories
S.B. Rivera, Sandia National Laboratories
T.J. Headley, Sandia National Laboratories
J.M. Gaudioso, Sandia National Laboratories
J.M. Bauer, Sandia National Laboratories
R.P. Manginell, Sandia National Laboratories
H. Hess, University of Washington
V. Vogel, University of Washington
Correspondent: Click to Email
Active transport systems consisting of motor proteins and microtubules can potentially provide a dynamic mechanism for assembling and reconfiguring materials at nanometer length scales. We are interested in using motor protein-microtubule systems to manipulate gold nanoparticles and quantum dots to create programmable or responsive conductive or optical arrays within microfluidic systems. The primary active transport strategy we have investigated involves the use of patterns of tethered motor proteins to transport short functionalized microtubules attached to nanoparticles. This talk will focus on two central issues associated with developing a viable transport system: 1) the development of surface functionalization schemes that optimize the guiding of microtubule shuttles through lithographically-defined networks, and 2) the development of functionalized microtubule configurations that allow nanoparticles to be carried without affecting critical motor protein-microtubule interactions. For guiding, we have obtained the best results using lithographic patterns containing both gold and silica surfaces. The gold surfaces are coated with self-assembled monolayers (oligoethylene glycol and amine terminations are most effective) that are antifouling with regard to proteins, confining the adsorption of motor proteins and their support structures onto exposed silica at the channel bottoms. In terms of microtubule functionalization, we have demonstrated that both gold nanoparticles and CdSe quantum dots can be attached to microtubules using standard biotin-streptavadin linkages. The structures of the nanoparticle-microtubule constructs have been characterized using both transmission electron and atomic force microscopies. Flourescence microscopy results show that the number and spatial distributions of particles must be controlled to achieve active transport. Several successful strategies for controlling such distributions will be described.