Assembly and functionalization of phage onto substrates patterned by dip-pen nanolithography

Abstract

Advances in nanochemistry will drive the development of technologies at the scale of 1 - 100 nm. Principles of biology are used for the self-assembly of structures and devices at this scale. The Ml 13 bacteriophage, a virus employed in phage-display libraries, serves as a scaffold for nanoscale structures. Phage are functionalized with inorganic materials, and controlled placement of phage at the nanoscale may lead to useful devices. Substrates patterned with dip-pen nanolithography (DPN) serve as templates for the deposition of phage. On gold substrates, 16-mercaptohexadecanoic acid (MHA) is deposited to form patterned lines. After surface passivation and activation chemistry, phage are deposited and adhere to the patterned substrate. Images from atomic force microscopy support that phage are covalently coupled to MHA lines and that cobalt precipitates on patterned phage.