Date of Graduation

5-2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Chemical Engineering

Advisor/Mentor

Servoss, Shannon

Abstract

The pursuit of an efficient and economical technique for early detection of cancer has led to the development of sophisticated biosensors for antigen analysis. As biosensors become more complex, coatings are necessary and important. The preferred coatings need to have the following properties: high surface area for binding, resistance to biofouling, and flexible synthesis. The focus of this project is to determine whether using peptoid microsphere-coated glass slides in the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) microarray technique is better than using commercially available glass slides. Current microarray slides are coated with reactive groups, such as amines, epoxides, or aldehydes. It is believed that using three-dimensional coatings will allow for increased binding efficiency of the capture reagent, and therefore increased dynamic range and sensitivity. Helical peptoids that are partially soluble in water have been shown to form microspheres when dried on a solid surface. In this project, peptoids will be synthetized, purified and characterized. Each peptoid will be dissolved in a protic solvent to stabilize the secondary helical structure and promote microsphere formation. The peptoids solutions will be administered onto the ELISA microarrays glass slides and allowed to dry in order to form uniform microsphere coatings. The peptoid microsphere-coated glass slides will be tested and compared against commercially available glass slides for use in ELISA microarray.

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