Carbohydrates and glycoconjugates are involved in a myriad of biological processes, including fertility, cancer, the immune response, and host-pathogen interactions. The carbohydrate microarray (or glycoarray) has emerged as one of the most promising technologies capable of revealing the complex roles played by carbohydrates in biology and medicine. While the glycoarray has had a significant impact on the field of glycomics (the study of carbohydrates in biology), little is known about the function of surface chemistry on array performance. In addition, existing glycoarray technologies are non-standardized, utilize disparate chemistries, and are only partially optimized to interrogate low affinity interactions or discriminate between mono- and multivalent binding. To help realize the glycoarray’s full potential in glycomics research, new label-free and high-throughput diagnostic tools are needed to screen glycan-dependent interactions and expand our fundamental understanding of glycobiology. The reengineered glycoarray must also include a quantitative picture of glycan surface chemistry to advance our ability to match array results with the biological question or hypothesis being tested.

  

This study details the development a panel of carbohydrate-functionalized ultrasensitive label-free biosensors based on surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRi), novel silicon photonic devices, and microelectrode microarrays. To define the role of biosensor surface chemistries, we describe the application of advanced surface analytical techniques to exhaustively characterize the biointerface of carbohydrate-modified surfaces for biosensor applications. X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), and Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) are used to examine the chemistries of glycoarray surfaces to establish the relationship between biosensor performance and glycan surface density and molecular conformation—highlighting the contributions of the surface analysis and biointerfaces communities in advancing the nascent field of glycomics.