BRIGE: Hindered-Diffusion Grayscale Surface Functionalization

这个扩大参与工程研究启动补助金（BRIGE）提供资金用于开发一种新的纳米级表面制造和图案化技术。 该方法利用化学品通过三维聚合物网的受阻扩散来产生伪灰度功能化表面图案;三维聚合物基底用作掩模以控制分子从液体储存器到目标图案化表面的扩散路径长度。以这种方式，可以控制表面官能化化学品的放置和这些化学品的局部密度。将进行实验，以表征网格密度和溶质通过聚合物的传输速率，这些信息将用于推导受阻扩散速率与基本聚合物和溶质性质之间的预测关系。这些关系将用于生成所描述的图案化机制的数值计算机模型，并且将通过实验验证结果。最后，结合数值和实验结果将被用来创建确定性算法，选择优化的聚合物几何形状和网格密度为任何所需的化学/图案combination.Selective化学品的沉积可以用来修改一些表面特性，包括结合亲和力，可制造性，疏水性和免疫反应。表面图案化的当前技术水平仅使用户能够制作微尺度二元图案，其中区域完全不存在化学改性或包含单一均匀的化学密度。如果成功的话，这项研究将代表一种廉价的方法，用于以高度精确的方式生产表面图案，其几何复杂程度是目前方法无法达到的。对低成本、广泛可用的材料的关注将使大量制造商和研究人员立即获得这一过程。灰度表面图案化的应用是多种多样的，包括用于药物开发的高通量结合研究、用于医学测试的便携式生物传感器、用于微流体和自组装的流体运动控制以及细胞行为的定量研究。此外，在这项研究中开发的受阻扩散研究和分析模型将提供宝贵的工具，在大量的领域由这种运输机制，包括组织工程，有针对性的药物输送和医疗诊断。

This Broadening Participation Research Initiation Grant in Engineering (BRIGE) provides funding for the development of a novel nanoscale surface fabrication and patterning technique. This method utilizes the hindered diffusion of chemicals through a three-dimensional polymer mesh to create pseudo-grayscale functionalized surface patterns; the three-dimensional polymer substrate serves as a mask to control the diffusion path length of molecules from a liquid reservoir to the target patterning surface. In this manner, both the placement of surface-functionalized chemicals and the local density of these chemicals can be controlled. Experiments will be conducted in order to characterize mesh density and solute transport rates through polymers and this information will be used to derive predictive relationships correlating hindered diffusion rate to basic polymer and solute properties. These relationships will be used to generate numerical computer models of the described patterning mechanism, and the results will be validated experimentally. Finally, the combined numerical and experimental results will be used to create deterministic algorithms for selecting optimized polymer geometry and mesh density for any desired chemical/pattern combination.Selective deposition of chemicals can be used to modify a number of surface properties, including binding affinity, manufacturability, hydrophobicity, and immune response. The current state-of-the-art in surface patterning only enables the user to make microscale binary patterns, where regions are either completely absent of chemical modification or contain a single uniform chemical density. If successful, this research will represent an inexpensive method for producing surface patterns in a highly accurate manner with a level of geometric complexity that is unattainable with current methods. The focus on low-cost, widely-available materials would make this process immediately accessible to a large number of manufacturers and researchers. Applications for grayscale surface patterning are numerous and varied, including high-throughput binding studies for pharmaceutical development, portable biosensors for medical testing, control of fluid movement for microfluidics and self assembly, and quantitative studies of cell behavior. In addition, the hindered-diffusion studies and analytical models developed in this research will provide invaluable tools in the large number of fields governed by this transport mechanism, including tissue engineering, targeted drug delivery, and medical diagnostics.