Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help
BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 29: Posters: Biopolymers \& Biomaterials
BP 29.18: Poster
Thursday, March 17, 2011, 17:15–20:00, P3
Van der Waals forces and their influence on the structure of protein adsorbates — •Hendrik Hähl1, Florian Evers2, and Karin Jacobs1 — 1Department of Experimental Physics, Saarland University, D-66041 Saarbrücken, Germany — 2Faculty of Physics/DELTA, TU Dortmund, D-44221 Dortmund, Germany
The adsorption of proteins from aqueous solution to surfaces is an omnipresent phenomenon. Common examples for which adhesion control is of utmost importance are biomedical applications such as implants or artificial tissues. The adsorption process itself, however, is still not fully understood. In our study, we concentrate on the interactions present between proteins and substrate.
In former studies, it could already been shown that a variation of subsurface composition of the substrate may lead to altered adsorption kinetics [1]. Here, we present X-ray studies that reveal the in situ structure of the adsorbed protein layers. By a judicious choice of substrates, we could separate the influence of surface and underlying material on the adsorbing proteins. Additionally, proteins with different isoelectric points and conformational stability as well as different buffer solutions were used in order to separate the influence of the various interactions involved. The strong difference of protein film structure on hydrophobic and hydrophilic substrates—as expected from literature—could clearly be seen. Yet, even differences in subsurface composition altered the properties of the adsorbates demonstrating the influence of the van der Waals interactions.
[1] Y. Schmitt, H. Hähl et al. Biomicrofluidics 4 (2010) 032201.