Electroactivated Peptides for Dynamic Functionalization

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).0932989GowerThis NSF award by the Biosensing/CBET program supports work by Professors Laurie Gower and David Norton, Materials Engineers at the University of Florida, to explore the feasibility of a new biopanning approach for electroactive peptides. The phage display combinatorial system will be used to screen for inorganic-binding peptides that have reversible binding properties so that an electric field can be used to trigger the sorption and/or desorption of the peptides from an electronic material's surface. These peptides can then serve as linkers to attach other components of interest, such as bioreceptors for biosensor arrays, or nanoparticle "cargo" for lab-on-a-chip configurations. The experiments proposed here will lay the groundwork for such future applications, by first exploring different electronic configurations to determine which mode of stimulus can provide the best reversibility without adversely affecting the peptide or attached biocomponent. While the "molecular biomimetics" approach is already being considered for the development of multicomponent systems, where peptide linkers can be screened to have selective binding affinity to different inorganic materials, the system being explored here will bring this technology to a whole new level because it could provide a means for dynamically patterning a multicomponent surface. Static micropatterned surfaces have already brought significant advances to the biotechnology arena; the ability to provide both spatial and temporal control over a surface's functionality could be the next revolutionary advance for bionanotechnology. For the next generation of XYZ-microsystems, it is desirable to capitalize on the small size and high efficiency of microelectronics, in combination with the high sensitivity and selectivity provided by biological systems. The grand challenge is in integrating non-electronic components (such as bioreceptors) with the electronic transduction elements. The work proposed here will provide not only a linkage between the organic-inorganic interface, but a linkage that is responsive to the device itself, for truly smart systems that assemble on command. One could envision changing a surface pattern in real time for contact guidance of cells, or directed polymerization of tracks for biomolecular shuttles (e.g. in smart dust biosensors). Another exciting advance that could result from electroactivated peptides is the self-cleaning capability of device surfaces. This could enable continuous biosensing, where a flow-through system could be designed that is triggered to release clogged receptors, followed by replacement with fresh receptors which self-assemble onto the de-activated surface. Thus, these exploratory studies will lay the groundwork for a whole new technology, which could lead to commercializable applications ranging from the military to private health care sectors.