NER: Biologically Inspired Lithography

Low EAR-0209795本提案是对NSF 01-157类纳米科学与工程倡议的响应，由GEO和ENG理事会共同资助。合作小组指出，虽然人们普遍认为分子间和分子内的作用力最终决定了生物分子和无机表面之间的相互作用，但很难理解这些作用力，因为它们的存在似乎是微不足道的。这项提议的中心目标是通过使用力显微镜来发现和探索细菌产生的蛋白质与矿物表面或其他无机相之间界面上的纳米级力，从而开始弥合这一差距。力测量将提供纳米级生物分子和无机表面之间的自然亲和力的定量测量。这些力数据将被用来设计一种软光刻技术，在这种技术中，细菌被用作活的“笔”，在固体表面产生和分泌各种纳米级图案的蛋白质。

Lower EAR-0209795This proposal was received in response to the Nanoscale Science and Engineering initiative NSF 01-157, category NER, and is co-funded by the GEO and ENG Directorates. The collaborative team states that while it is generally held that inter- and intra-molecular forces ultimately govern the interactions between biomolecules and inorganic surfaces, it is difficult to gain an appreciation of these forces because they exist at a seemingly infinitesimal magnitude. The central aim of this proposal is to begin to bridge this gap by using force microscopy to discover and explore the nanoscale forces at the interface between bacterially produced proteins and mineral surfaces or other inorganic phases. Force measurements will provide a quantitative measure of the natural affinity between nanoscale biomolecules and inorganic surfaces. These force data will be used to design a soft-lithographic technique in which a bacterium is used as a living "pen" that produces and secretes various proteins as nanoscale patterns onto a solid surface.