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Surface-Bound Gradient Deposition of Protein Nanoparticles for Cell Motility Studies
Witold I Tatkiewicz1,2, Joaquin Seras-Franzoso2, Elena Garcia-Fruitós2
1Department of Molecular Nanoscience and Organic Materials , Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (CSIC) , Campus UAB , 08193 Bellaterra , Spain.
Abstract:
A versatile evaporation-assisted methodology based on the coffee-drop effect is described to deposit nanoparticles on surfaces, obtaining for the first time patterned gradients of protein nanoparticles (pNPs) by using a simple custom-made device. Fully controllable patterns with specific periodicities consisting of stripes with different widths and distinct nanoparticle concentration as well as gradients can be produced over large areas (∼10 cm2) in a fast (up to 10 mm2/min), reproducible, and cost-effective manner using an operational protocol optimized by an evolutionary algorithm. The developed method opens the possibility to decorate surfaces "a-la-carte" with pNPs enabling different categories of high-throughput studies on cell motility.
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