A nanoengineering approach for investigation and regulation of protein immobilization.

It is known that protein attachment to surfaces depends sensitively upon the local structure and environment of the binding sites at the nanometer scale. Using nanografting and reversal nanografting, both atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based lithography techniques, protein binding sites with well-defined local environments are designed and engineered with nanometer precision. Three proteins, goat antibiotin immunoglobulin G (IgG), lysozyme, and rabbit immunoglobulin G, are immobilized onto these engineered surfaces.