Development of LSPR-based optical biosensors for the label-free detection of biomolecular interactions in high-density peptide arrays

Peptide or protein chips which can track hundreds or thousands of distinct proteins from a blood or urine sample at a single step are highly desired. It will allow the diagnosis of diseases in their formative, treatable stages just by detecting proteins that are markers for these specific diseases. To simultaneously and efficiently detect where blood´s proteins bind on the grid, label-free detection methods are favorable in order to reduce time and cost demands and facilitate the detection of low-affinity binding events. In this work, a label-free biosensor based on localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) was developed and specifically optimized regarding its application as a solid substrate in the synthesis of high-density peptide arrays, and in the detection of molecular interactions occurring on the sensor surface. Three main issues which are crucial in achieving this goal have been covered in this work: (i) development and optimization of the LSPR biosensor, (ii) Synthesis of a protein resistant layer on the LSPR biosensor, (iii) Label-free detection of biomolecular interactions on the polymer coated LSPR biosensors. For this purpose, a LSPR-based biosensor was first constructed. It consists of two gold layers and an intermediate dielectric layer in-between. The LSPR biosensor shows several pronounced resonance peaks in the UV-visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum, which are highly sensitive to changes in the refractive index of the surrounding medium. The LSPR biosensor was optimized in terms of plasmon resonance line shape, optical homogeneity, and sensitivity to facilitate its application in the label-free detection of biomolecular interactions in array format. In a second step, a poly(ethylene glycol) based polymer was synthesized on the sensor surface at mild reaction conditions by using Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (ATRP). The sensor was first coated with a silica gel to stabilize the sensor and provide a sufficiently high number of functional groups. ATRP initiators were immobilized on the silica gel surface in 2 steps by silanization and esterification to enhance the coupling efficiency. Subsequently, polymerization was carried out with oligo(ethylene glycol) methacrylate (OEGMA) as the monomer resulting in a poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate (PEGMA) polymer film. In the second approach, a graft copolymer film was synthesized on the sensor surface with methyl methacrylate (MMA) as the diluting monomer in order to reduce the protein-resistance of the sensor coating and further enhance the sensor stability. Graft copolymer films with 10% PEGMA/ 90% MMA and a thickness of 50-60 nm were successfully synthesized by setting the polymerization time between 9.5 and 10.5 hours. This thickness regime is required to ensure a high-loading of amino functional groups, which serve as the starting point for the subsequent peptide array synthesis. At the same time, this film thickness does not exceed the surface sensitivity regime of the LSPR biosensor. To test the performance of the LSPR biosensor, an array of fluorescent-labeled antibodies was formed on its surface by a spotting robot. The LSPR image displays an array of spots which corresponds to the fluorescence image. Moreover, the quantity of antibody bound to the sensor surface was correctly predicted based on the measured wavelength shifts in the quadrupole regime and a mass sensitivity factor known from literature. This shows that the LSPR biosensor described in this thesis has the potential to allow the detection of molecular interactions in a miniaturized array format in a quantitative manner. In the final part of this thesis, the polymer-coated LSPR biosensor was successfully utilized as the solid substrate in the synthesis of a peptide array via a novel laser printing technique developed at the Cancer Research Center Heidelberg (DKFZ). An array with 9x20 variants of hemagglutinin/HA (YPYDVPDYA) epitope was synthesized on a polymer-coated LSPR biosensor and incubated with IR-dye conjugated specific antibody. The LSPR image was generated by evaluating the wavelength shift in the octapole resonance peak and has successfully displayed the entire peptide array formed on the sensor surface. In a separate study, the potential of single, small particles for biosensing applications in miniaturized format was investigated. Whispering gallery modes (WGM) of fluorescence-doped sulfonated polystyrene (PS) particles with a diameter of 2 µm were studied with respect to their resonance shift after adsorption of polyelectrolyte multilayers. The resonance shifts were plotted as a function of the film thickness and a slope of 0.038 nm/ Å was obtained from a linear fit to the experimental data. This sensitivity factor can be translated into a detection limit of 3 fg by assuming a spectral resolution of 0.1 nm and a polyelectrolyte mass density17 of 0.81 g/cm3.