Berlin 2001 – wissenschaftliches Programm
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CPP: Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik
CPP 1: Special Symposium: Molecular Dynamics in Confined Geometries
CPP 1.3: Fachvortrag
Montag, 2. April 2001, 12:00–12:30, 3010
Micromanipulation of Self-Assembled Biomaterials in Microfluidic Channels — •Thomas Pfohl1,2, Joon Heon Kim1, Myung Chul Choi1, Youli Li1, Mahn Won Kim1, and Cyrus R. Safinya1 — 1Materials Research Laboratory, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA — 2New Permanent Address: Angewandte Physik, Universität Ulm, D-89069 Ulm
By using different surface treatment techniques, we were able to control surface charge, reactivity and hydrophobicity of microfluidic channels on silicon substrates for confining and orienting assemblies of biomolecular materials. These controls enabled us to devise various techniques for controlled loading and processing of biomaterials in the channels. Long chain biological macromolecules and self assembled biomaterials including DNA, F-actin and microtubules were directly loaded into the microchannels by using a micromanipulator/microinjector system. Structural arrangements of these linear macromolecules and assemblies, which were probed by using fluorescence and laser scanning confocal microscopy, were found to be quite different from bulk solutions. As expected, the filamentous molecules and self assemblies were observed to align linearly along the channels, with the degree of alignment dependent on channel width as well as the persistence length of the biomaterials. This molecular alignment opens up the possibility of carrying out direct combinatorial structural characterization of proteins in the microchannels utilizing x-ray diffraction, which so far has not been possible.