From Cleanroom to Desktop: Emerging Micro-Nanofabrication Technology for Biomedical Applications

This review is motivated by the growing demand for low-cost, easy-to-use, compact-size yet powerful micro-nanofabrication technology to address emerging challenges of fundamental biology and translational medicine in regular laboratory settings. Recent advancements in the field benefit considerably from rapidly expanding material selections, ranging from inorganics to organics and from nanoparticles to self-assembled molecules. Meanwhile a great number of novel methodologies, employing off-the-shelf consumer electronics, intriguing interfacial phenomena, bottom-up self-assembly principles, etc., have been implemented to transit micro-nanofabrication from a cleanroom environment to a desktop setup. Furthermore, the latest application of micro-nanofabrication to emerging biomedical research will be presented in detail, which includes point-of-care diagnostics, on-chip cell culture as well as bio-manipulation. While significant progresses have been made in the rapidly growing field, both apparent and unrevealed roadblocks will need to be addressed in the future. We conclude this review by offering our perspectives on the current technical challenges and future research opportunities

The cowpea chlorotic mottle virus as a building block in nanotechnology

Contains fulltext : 74710.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)RU Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, 5 januari 2010195 p

A virus-based single enzyme nanoreactor

Contains fulltext : 35237.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Catalytic capsids: The art of confinement

Contains fulltext : 91618.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)5 p

Viral capsids as templates for the production of monodisperse Prussian blue nanoparticles

Contains fulltext : 72373.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)3 p

Complex Assembly Behavior During the Encapsulation of Green Fluorescent Protein Analogs in Virus Derived Protein Capsules\ud

Enzymes encapsulated in nanocontainers are a better model of the conditions inside a living cell than free enzymes in solution. In a first step toward the encapsulation of multiple enzymes inside the cowpea chlorotic mottle virus (CCMV) capsid, enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) was attached to CCMV capsid proteins. The capsid protein–EGFP complex was then co-assembled with wild-type capsid protein (wt CP) in various ratios. At higher complex to wt CP ratios, the number of EGFP per capsid decreased instead of leveling off. We propose that this unexpected behavior is caused by pH-induced disassembly of the capsid protein–EGFP complex as well as by concentration and ratio dependent dimerization of the complex, making it partially unavailable for incorporation into the capsid.\ud \u

A modular approach to easily processable supramolecular bilayered scaffolds with tailorable properties

Engineering of anisotropic tissues demands extracellular matrix (ECM) mimicking scaffolds with an asymmetric distribution of functionalities. We here describe a convenient, modular approach based on supramolecular building blocks to form electrospun bilayered scaffolds with tailorable properties. Polymers and peptides functionalized with hydrogen-bonding ureido-pyrimidinone (UPy) moieties can easily be mixed-and-matched to explore new material combinations with optimal properties. These combinatorial supramolecular biomaterials, processed by electrospinning, enable the formation of modular fibrous scaffolds. We demonstrate how UPy-functionalized polymers based on polycaprolactone and poly(ethylene glycol) enable us to unite both cell-adhesive and non-cell adhesive characters into a single electrospun bilayered scaffold. We furthermore show that the non-cell adhesive layer can be bioactivated and made adhesive for kidney epithelial cells by the incorporation of 4 mol% of UPy-modified Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) peptide in the electrospinning solution. These findings show that the UPy-based supramolecular biomaterial system offers a versatile toolbox to form modular multilayered scaffolds for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications such as the formation of membranes for a living bioartificial kidney

Solution scattering studies on a virus capsid protein as a building block for nanoscale assemblies

Contains fulltext : 92349.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)12 p