A quick test to monitor the delamination propensity of glass containers.

Unlabelled: Glass delamination has developed as a quality problem for primary packaging containers over the last years. Beside other factors the container production process can contribute to this phenomenon, and it seems mandatory to steer and control the critical parameters. With the Schott Delamination Quicktest, a rapid test method is developed that provides a rough measure for the container-related properties that affect delamination risk in a simple and reliable manner and in a relatively short time span.

Signal and sensitivity enhancement through optical interference coating for DNA and protein microarray applications.

Optical inteference (OI) coated slides with unique optical properties were utilized in microarray analyses, demonstrating their enhanced detection sensitivity over traditional microarray substrates. The OI coating is comprised of a proprietary multilayered, dielectric, thin-film interference coating located beneath the functional coating (aminosilane or epoxysilane). It is designed to enhance the fluorescence in the Cy3 and Cy5 channel by increasing the light absorption of the dyes by about 6-fold and by redirecting emitted fluorescence into the detector during scanning, resulting in a theoretical limit of about 12-fold signal amplification.

Immobilization and AFM of single 4 x 6-mer tarantula hemocyanin molecules.

The high molecular mass respiratory protein of the tarantula Eurypelma californicum, a 4 x 6-mer hemocyanin, was investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM). Various substrates and methods were evaluated for immobilization of individual hemocyanin molecules on a solid surface. Samples were imaged after physisorption on mica and self-assembled monolayers, and after chemisorption on Au(111) and N-hydroxy-succinimide (NHS) functionalized surfaces.

Sensitivity studies for specific binding reactions using the biotin/streptavidin system by evanescent optical methods.

The combination of various evanescent optical methods such as surface plasmon spectroscopy, waveguide mode spectroscopy and an integrated optical Mach-Zehnder-interferometer are used to characterize biotinylated self-assembled monolayers as well as the binding of streptavidin to these labels. The aim of designing a highly specific and sensitive, re-usable affinity sensor for antigens on the basis of an integrated optical Mach-Zehnder interferometer is based on a proper understanding of the characteristics of the entire binding matrix architecture. Therefore, a variety of biotin-derivatives immobilized in a monolayer are investigated with respect to their affinity to streptavidin and the possibility to remove the steptavidin layer specifically.

Coil-Ring-Coil Block Copolymers as Building Blocks for Supramolecular Hollow Cylindrical Brushes.

Solvent-induced self-assembly of oligomer-substituted shape-persistent macrocycles leads to the formation of cylindrical aggregates, which have been fully characterized in solution. These aggregates, bound by nonspecific interactions, can be described as supramolecular hollow polymer brushes.