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

生物科学理事会通过其生物研究仪器开发计划和化学通过化学测量和成像部门支持西北大学的Chad a . Mirkin教授和纽约大学的Adam B. Braunschweig教授开发一种用于制造生物活性探针纳米阵列的新仪器。这种新仪器，被称为纳米尺寸仪，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，其特征直径在大范围内（10平方厘米）低于100纳米；因此，与现有技术相比，在特征尺寸、生产率和成本方面实现了数量级的改进，并提供了无法进行的基础生物实验的途径。这一目标将通过结合基于大规模平行尖端的纳米光刻策略与新的微流体设计，以及光化学激活的组合表面合成来实现。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。这个跨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精确控制。在这个合作提议的背景下开发的新仪器将解决工业和学术研究人员的一个主要问题，通过提供一种简便的方法来制备任意纳米模式的生物活性探针。此外，生物研究理事会将支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级大学的暑期学生提供财政支持，以协助该项目，并在著名机构开展一系列其他外展活动，以提高科学意识，包括芝加哥科学与工业博物馆、纽约大都会艺术博物馆、以及东哈莱姆女青年领导学校。

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.