Liposome/Membrane Protein Arrays

(w/ Profs. Couzis, Maldarelli, Calhoun)

Protein arrays today are being designed and developed using knowledge and practices that were adopted during the development of DNA microarray technology. The sensing or capture element (antibody, protein, peptides) is delivered onto the array surface using fluidic spotting techniques. This approach, while very successful in the delivery of nucleotides, presents problems in the delivery of proteins because of the potential damage via shearing at the dispensing step or denaturing and activity loss because of interactions with the array surface. In addition, these approaches do not lend themselves to further miniaturization, and are restricted to soluble proteins (eg antibodies) and cannot accommodate the important class of membrane bound proteins. We are working to immobilize the target proteins of interest either on the surface of liposomes (for soluble proteins or antibodies) or embedded in the native lipid bilayer environment of the liposome (for membrane proteins and glycolipid toxin receptors). Following their formation, these proteoliposomes are then arrayed on a patterned surface that prevents their break-up and the spurious non-specific interactions with the analyte samples.

Kalyankar, N. D., Sharma, M.K., Vaidya, S., Calhoun, D.H., Maldarelli, C. M., Couzis, A. and Gilchrist, M. L., (2006) Arraying of Intact Liposomes Into Chemically Functionalized Microwell Surfaces Langmuir 22(12):5403-11