Self-Assembled Monolayer Coating of Biological Probes to Avoid Protein Adhesion

Nusz, Greg
Johannes, Eva
Allen, Nina Strömgren
Hallen, Hans D.

¹Department of Physics and ²Department of Botany, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-8202, [email protected].

Correspondence and reprint requests to:

Hans Hallen Department of Physics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-8202 E-mail: [email protected].

NanoBiotechnology 2(2):p 61-65, 2006.

Probes designed to locally illuminate structures within plant cells are described. The probes studied are etch-sharpened single mode optical fibers, coated with aluminum, similar to probes used for near-field scanning optical microscopy. We find that cellular material adheres to the probes that are not coated with a self-assembled monolayer octadecyltrichlorosilane. The hydrophobic monolayer coating enabled these probes to be inserted into and removed from plant cells with no protein adhesion to the probes. This allows probe reinsertion and it causes less damage to the target cell, greatly facilitating in vivo optical study of cells.

(Nanobiotechnology DOI: 10.1385/Nano:2:1–2:61).