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

生物科学理事会通过他们的仪器开发生物研究计划和化学通过化学测量和成像支持教授乍得A。米尔金，西北大学，亚当教授B。布伦瑞克，纽约大学，开发一种新的仪器来制造生物活性探针的纳米阵列。这种新的仪器，称为Nanosizer，将产生寡核苷酸，寡肽和许多其他生物活性小分子的组合阵列，其特征直径在大面积上低于100纳米（10 cm 2）;从而在特征尺寸，生产率，和成本超过目前的技术，并提供了基本的生物实验，否则无法进行。这一目标将通过将基于平行尖端的纳米光刻策略与新的微流体设计和光化学活化的组合表面合成相结合来实现。在概念验证演示之后，将在化学动力学和反应时间方面对仪器进行系统优化，并实现自动化，以方便仪器操作。这个跨学科的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面积上产生任意图案的软物质的仪器，在这个合作项目中开发的新仪器将通过提供一种简便的方法来解决工业和学术研究人员的一个主要问题，制备生物活性探针的任意纳米片。此外，生物研究理事会将维持米尔金教授和布伦瑞克教授的外展活动，包括为少数民族服务的四年制学院的暑期学生提供财政支持，以在暑期协助这一项目，并开展一系列其他外展活动，提高知名机构的科学意识，包括芝加哥的科学与工业博物馆、纽约的大都会艺术博物馆、和东哈莱姆青年女子领导学院。

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.