The research presented within this dissertation explores the photocatalytic
deposition of metal carried out within sealed microfluidic channels. Micro scale
patterning of metals inside sealed microchannels is investigated as well as nanoscale
control over the surface morphology of the nanoparticles making up the patterns. This is
achieved by controlling solution conditions during deposition. Finally, the nanoparticle
patterns are used in fabricating a sensor device, which demonstrates the ability to
address multiple patches within a sealed channel with different surface chemistries.
Also presented here is the construction of the first epifluorescence/total internal
reflection macroscope. Its ability to carry out high numerical aperture imaging of large
arrays of solid supported phospholipid bilayers is explored. For this, three experiments
are carried out. First, imaging of a 63 element array where every other box contains a
different bilayer is preformed, demonstrating the ability to address large scale arrays by
hand. Next, a protein binding experiment is preformed using two different arrays of
increasing ligand density on the same chip. Finally, a two-dimensional array of mixed fluorescent dyes contained within solid supported lipid bilayers is imaged illustrating the
ability of the instrument to acquire fluorescent resonance energy transfer data.
Additionally, the design and fabrication of an improved array chip and
addressing method is presented. Using this new array chip and addressing method in
conjunction with the epifluorescence/total internal reflection macroscope should provide
an efficient platform for high throughput screening of important biological processes
which occur at the surfaces of cell membranes.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-1009 |
| Date | 15 May 2009 |
| Creators | Castellana, Edward Thomas |
| Contributors | Cremer, Paul S. |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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