This proposal requests funds to permit Dr. Joseph D. Andrade, Department of Bioengineering, University of Utah, to pursue with Dr. Hai Bang Lee, Polymer Laboratory, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, for a period of 24 months, a program of cooperative research on protein interactions with gradient surfaces. The collaborators will prepare and characterize samples which exhibit a continuous range of surface properties and study the interactions of a set of proteins with these surfaces. The U.S. team will prepare surfaces by a solution process, while the Korean team will use a "dry" vacuum process. Both groups will study surface characterization - the U.S. group studying protein adsorption, the Korean group studying cell adhesion on surfaces before and after protein treatment. Both group will work on data interpretation and hypothesis refinement. Protein adsorption at solid-liquid interfaces is important in many applications and industries, including separations, biotechnology, medical devices, and diagnostic products. The collaborators are highly respected scientists who have long been engaged in polymer research. The present project will allow them to combine their talents in complimentary approaches to a study of the research problem. This project is relevant to the objectives of the U.S.-Korea Cooperative Science Program which seeks to increase the level of cooperation between U.S. and Korean scientists and engineers through the exchange of scientific information, ideas, skills, and techniques and through collaboration on problems of mutual benefit.
