DYNAMIC SURFACE EVENTS MEASURED BY SIMULTANEOUS PROBE MICROSCOPY AND SURFACE-PLASMON DETECTION

The in situ study of dynamic surface events has significant implicatio ns for developing a deeper understanding of macromolecular interaction s at or near the solid-liquid interface. Here we describe a new approa ch to studying this interface using a novel combined surface plasmon r esonance and surface force microscope (SPR-SFM) which allows the simul taneous in situ acquisition of the surface kinetic and topographic dat a. We illustrate the potential of this instrumentation in two key fiel ds of biomedical research, polymer surface degradation and surface ads orption phenomena. The instrument allows the determination of the kine tics of nanometric changes in the thickness of the polymer films and t he visualization of the corresponding surface topographical changes on polymer erosion. The kinetics of the adsorption of the protein fibrin ogen to a polymer interface are realized to molecular resolution. In c onclusion, we believe that the synergistic combination of SPR and SFM offers an elegant approach to the quantitative study of dynamic surfac e events at the molecular level.