Surface Immobilization of Probes

Abstract

We saw in the previous chapter that the working functions of biological molecules are of key importance for target/probe interactions. The probe characteristics are important to assure specificity in target detection. Targets are either small metabolites or large proteins, and probes are typically proteins that manifest specific interactions with the targets. Targets may also be genes, and then probes should be single-stranded short chains of nucleic acids that provide specific hybridization with the DNA or RNA target. In all cases, we need to immobilize the probes onto the chip surface to create a stable Bio/CMOS interface. Furthermore, molecules providing specificity toward a specific target are not the only ones required on the surface. Sometimes, special alkanethiols or silanes are required to improve the quality at the nanoscale of a probe’s interface (Chap. 6). Thus, we need to study now the different mechanisms of molecular assembly onto a surface