Nano-pen prints polymers (May 2007) - News

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Nano-pen prints polymers

31 May 2007

Researchers in Israel and France have devised a new = technique to=20 make molecularly imprinted polymers using a nanofountain pen. The = method=20 paves the way to highly stable nanoarrays for multi-analyte = detection.=20 Integrating the polymeric receptor structures with fluid handling = and=20 reading systems could also help make lab-on-a-chip devices, says = the=20 team.

Micro- and nano-biochips could expand the use of arrayed = biosensors in=20 applications such as point-of-care clinical testing, environmental = monitoring and homeland security. Normally, these biochips employ = enzymes=20 or antibodies as sensors but these molecules can be unstable. = Moreover, a=20 natural receptor for a particular target may not always exist. = Scientists=20 would therefore like to create new, tailor-made receptors for = particular=20 molecular targets.

Levi Gheber's team at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in = Beer-Sheva,=20 together with Karsten Haupt's group at the Compi=C3=A8gne = University of=20 Technology, have now shown that they can do just this. Anne-Sophie = Belmont, in Haupt's group, and colleagues made single = nanostructures with=20 molecular imprints that can be positioned with high precision = using a=20 nanofountain pen. The pen is a hollow glass capillary drawn into a = very=20 sharp tip with an aperture of just a few hundreds of nanometres. =

The "ink" =E2=80=93 which can be proteins, polymers, DNA and = enzymes =E2=80=93 only=20 flows out of the tip of the nanopipette when it is in contact with = a=20 surface to deposit miniscule amounts of solution. The pipette is = mounted=20 as the probe of an atomic force microscope (AFM) and its position = is=20 controlled with nanometre precision.

MIP

Using their technique, the Israel scientists have shown that = they can=20 print proteins, enzymes and polymers onto glass, gold-coated and = silicon=20 substrates. "In principle, the nanofountain pen can print almost = anything=20 on anything," explained Gheber.

The device can also print without lifting the pen off the = substrate.=20 Indeed, the researchers wrote the word "MIP" (for molecularly = imprinted=20 polymers) just to demonstrate this point (see figure). Moreover, = the=20 amount of "ink" in the pen's reservoir is practically unlimited at = these=20 scales.

Gheber told nanotechweb.org that the work paves the way = to=20 making nanoarrays that can detect multiple analytes based on MIPs = that=20 have high stability compared to biological receptors. The arrays = can be=20 imprinted with target molecules for which natural receptors may = not exist.=20 "Integrating polymeric receptor structures with fluid handling and = reading=20 systems (that are also polymer-based) could tremendously advance = the=20 realization of lab-on-chip devices," added Gheber.

The team is now working on printing MIPs that can detect = several=20 analytes on the same array. It also hopes to develop label-free = detection=20 techniques for binding on such small MIP structures.

The researchers reported their work in Appl. Phys. = Lett..

About the author

Belle Dum=C3=A9 is contributing editor at = nanotechweb.org

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Ben Gurion=20 University of the Negev

Pure and = Applied=20 Biochemistry at Lund University, Sweden

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Appl.=20 Phys. Lett. 90 193101

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Author

Belle = Dum=C3=A9=20

Tel +44 (0)117 929 7481 | Fax +44 (0)117 930 1178 | = E-mail info@nanotechweb.org
Copyright =C2=A9 IOP Publishing Ltd 1996-2007. All = rights=20 reserved.

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