Proposal Number: CTS-0403535 Principal Investigator: Jan Genzer Institution: North Carolina State University
The objective of this proposal is to develop a novel technology for investigating protein adsorption on material surfaces. A combinatorial screening methodology that improves upon existing analytical tools will enable faster, more reliable, and more efficient evaluation of protein adsorption. This approach will provide an effective analytical method and will facilitate manufacturing of devices with controllably modified biointerfacial properties. Novel polymeric surfaces based on the tailored deposition of macromolecules grafted to flat silica substrates will be fabricated and characterized. Conditions will be controlled to permit formation of continuous gradients in polymer grafting densities, and graft-polymer chain length. Gradient structures, on which the polymer grafting density and chain length of the grafted polymers vary independently in orthogonal directions, will be prepared. In terms of the broader impacts, educational efforts will focus on activities in an elementary school in Mount Airy, NC aimed at attracting local K-12 teachers and students. The gradient-based technology developed in this program will provide a powerful methodology that should be superior to current techniques in that it enables fast and simple screening of protein adsorption and complete and reliable exploration of a broad parameter space. The structures developed in this program will facilitate controlled adsorption of cells, a process that represents the central focus of many pharmaceutical devices.
