Mesoporous silica chips for harvesting the low molecular weight proteome from human serum

dc.contributor.advisorFerrari, Mauro, 1959-en
dc.creatorHu, Yeen
dc.date.accessioned2010-06-21T20:34:01Zen
dc.date.accessioned2017-05-11T22:20:00Z
dc.date.available2010-06-21T20:34:01Zen
dc.date.available2017-05-11T22:20:00Z
dc.date.issued2009-12en
dc.descriptiontexten
dc.description.abstractIn this dissertation, mesoporous silica thin films with tunable features at the nanoscale were fabricated using the triblock copolymer template pathway, with the aim of specifically harvesting the low molecular weight peptides and proteins from human serum, which has been regarded as a potential source of diagnostic biomarkers for the early detection of disease. The superior properties of mesoporous silica have been demonstrated in applications which include chemical sensing, filtration, catalysis, drug-delivery and selective biomolecular uptake. These properties depend on the architectural, physical and chemical properties of the materials, which in turn are determined by the processing parameters in evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA). Using the different polymer templates and polymer concentration in the precursor solution, various pore size distributions, pore structures and surface hydrophilicities were obtained and applied for nanotexture-selective recovery of low mass proteins. With the assistance of mass spectrometry and statistic analysis, we demonstrated the correlation between the nanophase characteristics of the mesoporous silica thin film and the specificity and efficacy of low mass proteome harvesting. In addition, to overcome the limitations of the pre-functionalization method in polymer selection, plasma ashing was used for the first time for the treatment of the mesoporous silica surface prior to chemical modification. Opposite surface charges due to the different functional groups used, resulted in a distinctive selectivity of the low molecular weight proteins from the serum sample. The mesoporous silica chips operate with extraordinary rapidity, high reproducibility, no sample pre-processing, and substantial independence from sample acquisition and storage temperature.In conclusion our study demonstrates that the ability to tune the physicochemical properties of mesoporous silica surfaces has the potential to promote the use of this material as a tool for the selective separation and concentration of the low molecular weight proteome from complex biological fluids.en
dc.description.departmentBiomedical Engineeringen
dc.format.mediumelectronicen
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2152/7839en
dc.language.isoengen
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author. Presentation of this material on the Libraries' web site by University Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin was made possible under a limited license grant from the author who has retained all copyrights in the works.en
dc.subjectMesoporous silicaen
dc.subjectMesoporous silica thin filmsen
dc.subjectProteomeen
dc.subjectHuman serumen
dc.subjectNanoscaleen
dc.subjectPolymersen
dc.subjectPlasma ashingen
dc.subjectMesoporous silica chipsen
dc.titleMesoporous silica chips for harvesting the low molecular weight proteome from human serumen

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