I’ve performed what might be the last test of the n-Dodecyl β-D-Maltoside (“DDM”) coating. This time I washed for three minutes each sample in HBS just like in the reference, used precisely the same concentration (and type, for that matter) of protein that was used in the reference, and tested a positive control, a negative control,…

AFM images report Protocol: pnc-Si TEM  grids were mounted on thin silicone inserts. Surface treatments were applied to the grids. Except for the CellTak treatment, the treatments were all diluted in Hank’s Balanced Salt Solution (HBSS) and incubated with grids  for 2 hours and then washed off with PBS. CellTak was diluted in 0.1 M…

I’ve been using a Makerbot 2 for the last week or so, trying to see if we can use the same PDMS contact lithography techniques that we are all familiar with. In short, yes, but there is plenty of work to be done to make it a robust process for microfluidics.   Makerbot Printer The…

Now that I’ve got plenty of fluorescent protein, I’ve moved back to testing protein adsorption to various surfaces. I’ve repeated the n-Dodecyl β-D-Maltoside (“DDM”) coating procedure (reference) with the goal of preventing or heavily decreasing the protein adsorption to the PDMS surface. This time I had a total of four samples: DDM treated, sham treated, untreated,…

The overall goal was to see is if it was possible to create a reliable low resolution mask that can be used for crosslinking PEG structures using a laser printer and transparencies sheets. With these masks, I explored to see if there is an effect on the PEG structures when dimensions such as the spacings…

I’ve run a few comparative studies with the CytoVu devices that have SiO2 membranes in them.  From a previous NRG discussion, here is the comparison of a single location with only the fluorescent images, and that same location but with phase included: In the phase image, the pores can be seen through the cells, especially evident in…

I made this post last week concerning testing this procedure to make sure that the resulting solution is in fact fluorescent BSA and not just a mixture of free BSA and free TRITC. Unfortunately, I exercised my right as a rookie to make silly mistakes and confused 5-TMRIA for 5-TRITC! The two particles are very similar…

In my previous post, I mentioned that the EA treated chips showed decreasing contact angles after their storage in water in contrast to gel-pack or vacuum container. However the EA treatment was 4 days old, and I lacked adequate controls. So this time, I chose smaller time durations to understand if this phenomenon can be…

IMPORTANT: I made a mistake, and mistook what was actually Tetramethylrhodamine-5-Iodoacetamide Dihydroidiode (5-TMRIA) for TRITC. 5-TMRIA is another Rhodamine derivative and has similar chemical properties to TRITC, but does not bind to proteins in the same way. The procedure should still work for conjugating TRITC with BSA (in fact, it should work even better,) but…