The ability to control matter at the nano scale is a major landmark towards the development of smaller, faster, highly efficient electronic devices. Biological molecules are of the appropriate dimensions and can self-assemble, presenting a great opportunity to expand the repertoire of nano technology building blocks. Nucleic acids and proteins have been incorporated in inorganic devices to create biosensors for screening applications and have been shown to form predesigned
nano structures. These methodologies exploit the specific recognition capabilities of biomolecules but neglect to utilize their functionality. In order to exploit this potential, we have developed a platform for patterning bio molecules on inorganic surfaces that maintains their biological activity. Specifically, we can pattern surfaces with DNA molecules that code for proteins and synthesize these proteins upon addition of a cell-free extract to the chip. The protein products can also be localized on the surface by trapping them by specific antibodies localized at pre-determined positions on the surface. The development of such a playground of
bio-activities on a chip is a promising step towards the construction of synthetic cells.
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