| Protein nanopatterns defined precisely by nanolithographic techniques can induce controllable interactions with self-organized biological systems at molecular level and will bring significant impacts to biology and medicine. Nanoarray analysis can significantly improve sensitivity, throughput, and efficiency to analyze gene expression and protein interaction profiling. Biomolecular nanopatterns can also immobilize viruses, bacteria, and cells, etc., and induce combinatorial interactions with the microbiosystems for clinical diagnostics, cellular signaling, drug development, and tissue engineering.;Two novel protein patterning techniques, electric lithography and electric printing lithography, are reported in this dissertation. Electric lithography is an electrochemical patterning method by polymerization, epoxy cross-linking, or dissociation of surface functional group induced by local electric field applied through conductive patterns on a mask. Electric printing lithography is to generate protein nanopatterns with a colloidal ink of protein-coated nanoparticles. By applying an electric potential on nano metal electrodes on a stamp, the protein-coated nanoparticles in the colloid are assembled onto the nanoelectrodes by electrophoretic deposition to form nanopatterns, which are then printed from the stamp onto a biocompatible polymer substrate by cross-linking the polymer with UV exposure. Like the process to pattern toners with different colors in printing process, the electric lithographic techniques can generate nanoscale protein patterns with a simple, rapid, high-resolution, and low-cost process to generate heterogeneous protein nanopatterns with multiple distinct proteins. |
