Molecular Self-Assembly, Chemical Lithography, and Biochemical Tweezers: A Path for the Fabrication of Functional Nanometer-Scale Protein Arrays

摘要

Exploration of the immensurable gene products of the -25000 human genes and mapping of dynamic protein interaction networks are key challenges in current biological research. Highly parallel protein chip technologies deliver promising tools for these challenges even down to the single-molecule level. Whereas DNA molecules are robust and easy to immobilize in a functional manner - as seen in the triumph of DNA chip technology - proteins are highly sensitive and chemically heterogeneous entities denaturing rapidly in vitro.