Template-imprinted nanostructured surfaces for protein recognition

Synthetic materials capable of selectively recognizing proteins are importa nt in separations(1), biosensors(2) and the development of biomedical mater ials(3-5). The technique of molecular imprinting creates specific recogniti on sites in polymers by using template molecules(6-9). Molecular recognitio n is attributed to binding sites that complement molecules in size, shape a nd chemical functionality(10). But attempts to imprint proteins have met wi th only limited success(11-15). Here we report a method for imprinting surf aces with protein-recognition sites. We use radio-frequency glow-discharge plasma deposition to form polymeric thin films(16) around proteins coated w ith disaccharide molecules. The disaccharides become covalently attached to the polymer film, creating polysaccharide-like cavities that exhibit highl y selective recognition for a variety of template proteins, including album in, immunoglobulin G, lysozyme, ribonuclease and streptavidin, Direct imagi ng of template recognition is achieved by patterning a surface at the micro metre scale with imprinted regions.