Dev Kambhampati

Application of self‐assembly techniques in the design of biocompatible protein microarray surfaces

This review focuses on the application of novel technologies for generating biocompatible surfaces for high‐throughput screening (HTS) of proteins. Various methods of coupling and spotting proteins on self‐assembled monolayer (SAM) surfaces will be described along with the protein chip challenges pertaining to spot homogeneity, morphology, biocompatibility and reproducibility.

Investigating the Kinetics of DNA-DNA and PNA-DNA Interactions Using Surface Plasmon Resonance-Enhanced Fluorescence Spectroscopy

Plasmon surface polaritons, resonantly excited in the Kretschmann format, are used to enhance the fluorescence emission of chromophore-labeled oligonucleotides (15mers) binding to surface-attached (via biotin-streptavidin linkages) complement catcher probes. A detailed analysis of the association and dissociation kinetics as well as the affinity constants is given for a mismatch 1 hybrid, emphasizing, in particular, the experimental conditions that are required to allow for an artifact-free determination of rate constants. A first comparison between DNA- and peptide nucleic acid (PNA-) probes shows similar affinities, however, significant deviations from single-exponential kinetics predicted by a simple Langmuir model for the PNA case are found.

Surface-Plasmon Optical Techniques

Abstract Over the past years, surface plasmons became a classical optical tool for the characterization of interfaces and thin films, e.g. for biosensor applications. And despite the fact that a number of commercial instruments are available we still see considerable effort in developing new schemes and formats aimed at improving the resolution and sensitivity, gain new information about the samples of interest by combination modes with other surface analytical techniques, or simplify and miniaturize the instrumentation.