Advanced Supported Membrane Arrays for Probing Lipid-Protein Interactions with Surface Plasmon Resonance

化学系的分析和表面化学计划将支持加州大学河滨分校的全成教授的研究计划。程教授和他的学生将开发新的脂质微阵列，并将它们与表面等离子共振(SPR)成像显微镜相结合，以实时和无标记的方式研究脂质与蛋白质的相互作用。目前研究脂类-蛋白质相互作用的方法在膜环境中捕获脂类成分的能力有限。大多数方法不能进行高通量分析。这已经成为分析脂质-蛋白质相互作用的瓶颈。为了制造脂质微阵列，程教授和他的学生将在通常用于SPR成像的黄金表面涂上超薄的二氧化硅涂层。这项研究将集中在利用光刻方法和焙烧SPR芯片制造微阵列模板，制造坚固的、具有流体性质的人造膜微阵列，为承载脂质受体提供真实的膜环境，以及利用脂质微阵列/SPR技术研究磷脂酰肌醇与蛋白质的相互作用。由于蛋白质和磷脂酰肌醇之间的相互作用对核功能和膜运输的调节至关重要，这项工作将提供新的工具，从而促进癌症和II型糖尿病领域的研究。拟议系统的高通量能力也将为筛选具有治疗意义的互动伙伴提供极好的机会。该项目将在尖端、高度多学科的研究领域为研究生和本科生提供极好的培训机会。

The Analytical and Surface Chemistry program in the Division of Chemistry will support the research program of Prof Quan Cheng of the University of California at Riverside. Prof. Cheng and his students will develop novel lipid microarrays and combine them with surface plasmon resonance (SPR) imaging microscopy to investigate lipid-protein interactions in a real-time and label-free fashion. Current methods for the study of lipid-protein interactions are limited in their ability to capture lipid components in a membrane environment. Most methods are not capable of high throughput analysis. This has become a bottleneck in the profiling of lipid-protein interactions. To fabricate lipid microarrays Prof. Cheng and his students will coat gold surfaces, commonly used for SPR imaging, with ultra thin silica coatings. The study will focus on the fabrication of microarray templates with lithographic approaches and calcinated SPR chips, fabrication of robust, artificial membrane microarrays with fluid nature that provide true membrane environment for hosting lipid receptors, and investigation of phosphoinositide-protein interactions with lipid microarray/SPR technique. Since the interactions between proteins and phosphoinositides are essential to the regulation of nuclear functions and membrane trafficking, the work will provide new tools and thus facilitate research in the areas of cancer and type II diabetes. The high-throughput capability of the proposed system will also offer excellent opportunities for the screening of interaction partners that are of therapeutic significance. The project will provide excellent training opportunities to graduate and undergraduate students in a cutting edge highly multidisciplinary area of research.