Laser Assisted Deposition Of Bacteriorhodhopsin Assemblies
Gunjan Agarwal* and Ratna S. Phadke
Chemical Physics Group, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Homi Bhabha Road, Mumbai 400 005, India
This is an abstract
for a presentation given at the
Sixth
Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology.
The full article is available at http://www.foresight.org/Conferences/MNT6/Papers/Agarwal/index.html.
Casting of individual and intact preformed supramolecular assemblies of biomolecules onto a solid substrate is important as such molecular assemblies can serve as self-contained single modules for fabrication of molecular devices. The process of deposition should be such that the structural and functional properties of biomolecular assemblies are preserved after being interfaced onto solid substrates. We have used the laser assisted deposition (LAD) technique to deposit bacteriorhodhopsin (bR) assemblies onto quartz substrates. bR in purple membrane has been entrapped in a matrix of L- -phosphatidylcholine distearoyl (DSPC) molecules which helps in a controlled transfer of energy to the bR molecule. In addition, the matrix molecules are known to possess self-assembling properties. The bR assemblies thus deposited have been characterized using a variety of techniques like optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction and absorption studies. The structural and functional properties of the bR assemblies are found to be preserved after LAD.
*Corresponding Address:
Gunjan Agarwal
Biophysics Department, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
1300 Morris Park Ave., Bronx, NY 10461
Phone: (718) 430 2109, Fax: (718) 430 8819
Email: [email protected]
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