| AVS 61st International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Surface Modification of Materials by Plasmas for Medical Purposes Focus Topic | Thursday Sessions |
| Session SM+AS+BI+PS-ThA |
| Session: | Plasma Processing of Biomemetic Materials |
| Presenter: | Marcela Bilek, University of Sydney, Australia |
| Authors: | M.M. Bilek, University of Sydney, Australia A. Kondyurin, University of Sydney, Australia E. Kosobrodova, University of Sydney, Australia G. Yeo, University of Sydney, Australia S. Wise, Heart Research Institute, Australia N.J. Nosworthy, University of Sydney, Australia C.G. dos Remedios, University of Sydney, Australia A.S. Weiss, University of Sydney, Australia D.R. McKenzie, University of Sydney, Australia |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Despite major research efforts in the field of biomaterials, rejection, severe immune responses, scar tissue and poor integration continue to seriously limit the performance of today’s implantable biomedical devices. Implantable biomaterials that interact with their host via an interfacial layer of active biomolecules to direct a desired cellular response to the implant would represent a major leap forward. Another, perhaps equally revolutionary, development that is on the biomedical horizon is the introduction of cost-effective microarrays for fast, highly multiplexed screening for biomarkers on cell membranes and in a variety of analyte solutions.
Both of these advances will rely on the availability of methods to strongly attach biomolecules to surfaces whilst retaining their biological activity. Radicals embedded in nanoscale carbon rich surface layers by energetic ion bombardment can covalently immobilize bioactive proteins [Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci 108(35) pp.14405-14410 (2011)] onto the surfaces of a wide range of materials, including polymers, metals, semiconductors and ceramics . This new approach delivers the strength and stability of covalent coupling without the need for chemical linker molecules and multi-step wet chemistry. Immobilization occurs in a single step directly from solution and the hydrophilic nature of the surface ensures that the bioactive 3D shapes of the protein molecules are minimally disturbed.
This presentation will describe recently developed approaches that use energetic ions extracted from plasma to facilitate simple, one-step covalent surface immobilization of bioactive molecules. A kinetic theory model of the biomolecule immobilization process via reactions with long-lived, mobile, surface-embedded radicals and supporting experimental data will be presented. Progress on applications of this technology to create antibody microarrays for highly multiplexed, simple analysis of cell surface markers and to engineer bioactive surfaces for implantable biomedical devices will be reviewed.