QCM-D and reflectometry instrument: applications to supported lipid structures and their biomolecular interactions

A novel setup was recently developed, combining quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) and optical reflectometry for measurements on one and the same surface of, for example, biomolecular adlayers and interactions ( Rev. Sci. Instr. 2008 , 79 075107 ). This combination was chosen on the basis of prior experience of using QCM-D and optical techniques in separate instruments, which showed both the advantage of employing multiple techniques and the disadvantage of not working with the same surface and (flow) cell. The new instrument provides, for example, information about associated water and structural changes of the adlayers that would often pass unnoticed or be hard to interpret or quantify, using either technique alone. The triple response instrument (QCM-D frequency and dissipation and reflectometry) is here applied to four model systems: (A) formation of supported lipid bilayers (SLBs), (B) lipid exchange between a SLB and transiently adsorbed vesicles, (C) binding of a hydrated peptide on a functionalized SLB, and (D) streptavidin coupling to a biotinylated SLB, followed by attachment of biotinylated vesicles. The results demonstrate three major advantages of the combination instrument: (i) much faster data collection because the experiments are done on one surface for all signals, (ii) a common time axis and the same relative importance of surface kinetics and mass transport because the same liquid sample and the same transport conditions apply, and (iii) new features are discovered about the studied system that would be difficult to unravel in separate instruments.