Collaborative Research: IDBR: The Nanosizer: A New Nanolithographic Tool for Preparing Combinatorial Arrays in Situ

生物科学局通过他们的生物研究仪器开发计划和化学测量和成像化学分部，支持西北大学的查德·A·米尔金教授和纽约大学的亚当·B·布伦施韦格教授开发一种新的仪器，以制造生物活性探针的纳米阵列。这种名为Nanosizer的新仪器将在大范围内产生特征直径小于100纳米的寡核苷酸、寡肽和许多其他生物活性小分子的组合阵列(10‘S平方厘米)；从而在特征尺寸、生产率和成本方面实现比现有技术数量级的改进，并提供以其他方式无法进行的基础生物学实验。这一目标将通过将大规模平行针尖纳米光刻策略与新的微流控设计和光化学激活的组合表面合成相结合来实现。在概念验证演示之后，仪器将在化学动力学和反应时间方面进行系统优化，并实现自动化，以方便仪器操作。这一交叉学科项目独特地结合了化学、工程和材料科学的元素，创造了一种能够在大范围内产生任意图案的软物质的仪器，其中每个特征的化学成分和位置都可以得到精确的控制。在这项合作提案的背景下开发的新仪器将通过提供一种简便的方法来制备任意纳米的生物活性探针，从而解决工业界和学术界研究人员的一个主要问题。此外，生物研究总局将支持Mirkin教授和Braunschweig教授的外联活动，包括资助少数族裔服务的四年制大学的暑期学生在暑假期间协助这一项目，以及一系列其他外联活动，以提高著名机构的科学意识，包括芝加哥的科学和工业博物馆、纽约的大都会艺术博物馆和东哈莱姆的青年妇女领导力学校。

The Directorate for Biological Sciences through their Instrument Development for Biological Research program and the Division of Chemistry through Chemical Measurement and Imaging support Prof. Chad A. Mirkin, Northwestern University, and Prof. Adam B. Braunschweig, New York University, to develop a new instrument to fabricate nanoarrays of biologically active probes. This new instrument, termed the Nanosizer, will produce combinatorial arrays of oligonucleotides, oligopeptides, and many other biologically active small molecules with sub-100 nanometer feature diameters over large areas (10's of cm2); thereby achieving order of magnitude improvements in feature size, production rate, and cost over current technologies and providing access to fundamental biological experiments that could not otherwise be undertaken. This goal will be achieved by combining massively-parallel tip based nanolithography strategies with new microfluidic designs, and photochemically activated combinatorial surface syntheses. Following proof-of-concept demonstrations, the instrument will be systematically optimized with regard to chemical kinetics and reaction times and automated to facilitate instrument operation. This interdisciplinary project uniquely combines elements of chemistry, engineering, and materials science to create an instrument capable of producing arbitrary patterns of soft matter over large areas, where the chemical composition and position of every feature can be controlled precisely.The new instrument developed in the context of this collaborative proposal will address a major problem for industrial and academic researchers by providing a facile method for preparing arbitrary nanopatterns of biologically active probes. Moreover, the Directorate of Biological Research will sustain Prof. Mirkin and Prof. Braunschweig's outreach activities, including financial support of summer students from minority-serving four year colleges to assist in this project during the summer and a range of other outreach activities that increase scientific awareness at eminent institutions including the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Young Women's Leadership School of East Harlem.