Micro- and Nano-Structured Thin Films for Biological Interfaces

Abstract

The biological properties of a materials surface depend strongly on the way proteins adsorb on the synthetic surface. The development of the new generation biomaterials is based on surfaces that stimulate specific cellular response at the molecular level, for instance by immobilisation of biomolecules such as cell adhesion proteins, directly on the surface. Moreover, micro and nano patterning of the surface can be used for cell guidance, or for the design of parallel analysis domains on biosensors and biochips. The present work deals with the development of micro and nanostructured plasma polymer surfaces that covalently bind proteins. We present the different polymer surfaces that can be obtained by plasma deposition or by plasma treatment and relate the modification to protein attachment kinetics.