A Novel Approach to Produce Protein Nanopatterns by Combining Nanoimprint Lithography and Molecular Self-Assembly

摘要

We describe a novel parallel method for the patterning of proteins with nanoscale resolution.Combining nanoimprint lithography (NIL) and molecular assembly patterning by lift-off (MAPL),we produced streptavidin patterns with feature sizes in the order of 100 nm.A stamp is imprinted into a heated PMMA film followed by a dry etching step that converts the topography into a PMMA/Nb_2O_5 contrast.A biotin functionalized copolymer,poly(L-lysine)-graft-poly(ethylene glycol)-biotin (PLL-g-PEG/PEG-biotin),spontaneously adsorbs on the oxide surfaces.After PMMA lift-off,the background is backfilled with protein-resistant PLL-g-PEG.We show that streptavidin selectively adsorbs on the biotin areas and thus can be used as a universal platform for immobilization of biotin-tagged molecules.This novel process is a parallel patterning method that is fast,reproducible,and economic.The PEG-copolymer can be functionalized with a variety of bioactive groups and thus allows a great flexibility in terms of surface chemistry.