Press releases
Please quote Nature Materials as the source of these items.
December 2003
Protein chips get wet
Unlike DNA chips - widespread tools in biological laboratories - protein chips have been problematic to obtain. The trouble with proteins is their inability to survive without water. Conventional dry chips are therefore far from ideal. A new hydrogel material provides a water-rich matrix in which protein interactions can take place and be easily detected, as Hamachi and colleagues report in the January issue of Nature Materials.
The hydrogel described by Hamachi's group has one key property: it contains both hydrophilic (water loving) and hydrophobic (water hating) nanoscale compartments. The former trap an exceptionally large quantity of water (up to 99.9% in weight) that keeps the proteins alive, and the latter amplify the fluorescence signal used to probe the protein's activity.
Simple as it is - the hydrogel forms spontaneously and is robust enough to be spotted on glass - this approach to protein chips marks an important step forward. Moreover, Hamachi's strategy to hydrogel design can be modified to make other hydrogel materials specifically aimed at proteins of pharmaceutical or diagnostic relevance.
