| AVS 61st International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Biomaterial Interfaces | Monday Sessions |
| Session BI+AS+NS-MoA |
| Session: | Bio/Nano Interfaces |
| Presenter: | Jia-Wei Yeh, Cornell University |
| Authors: | J.W. Yeh, Cornell University K. Szeto, Cornell University H.G. Craighead, Cornell University |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
We have investigated the field-extension of tethered DNA in nanoslits with slit heights ranging from 30 to 130 nm, and performed an analysis from an approximated modified worm-like chain (mWLC) field-extension relation. DNA molecules attached to microspheres were anchored at a micro-nanofluidic interface and the molecules electrophoretically extended. We demonstrated that both the DNA segmental correlation and equilibrium lengths increased as the slit height decreased. Furthermore, for extremely confined DNA where h≤30 nm, we observed reptation of the DNAs’ contours within the nanoslit, a phenomena that may be induced by inhomogeneous surface charge distributions. This nano-confined system may have implications for single-molecule sensors on detecting and analyzing genetic, epigenetic markers, and related nanobiotechnological applications.