Synthesis of an oligonucleotide-derivatized amphipol and its use to trap and immobilize membrane proteins.

Amphipols (APols) are specially designed amphipathic polymers that stabilize membrane proteins (MPs) in aqueous solutions in the absence of detergent. A8-35, a polyacrylate-based APol, has been grafted with an oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN). The synthesis, purification and properties of the resulting 'OligAPol' have been investigated.

A step closer to membrane protein multiplexed nanoarrays using biotin-doped polypyrrole.

Whether for fundamental biological research or for diagnostic and drug discovery applications, protein micro- and nanoarrays are attractive technologies because of their low sample consumption, high-throughput, and multiplexing capabilities. However, the arraying platforms developed so far are still not able to handle membrane proteins, and specific methods to selectively immobilize these hydrophobic and fragile molecules are needed to understand their function and structural complexity. Here we integrate two technologies, electropolymerization and amphipols, to demonstrate the electrically addressable functionalization of micro- and nanosurfaces with membrane proteins.

Effects of buffer composition and dilution on nanowire field-effect biosensors.

Nanowire-based field-effect transistors (FETs) can be used as ultra-sensitive and label-free biosensors for detecting protein-protein interactions. A way to increase the performance of such sensors is to dilute the sensing buffer drastically. However, we show here that this can have an important effect on the function of the proteins.