Bio-sensing surfaces

For a variety of applications, it is important that proteins are immobilized on surfaces. Whether a protein that is anchored to a surface shows its natural activity depends strongly on the type of anchoring. For example, linkers and spacers, are used for the covalent coupling of proteins to surfaces. The decisive factor is that the protein retains its natural activity. Although enzymes are sometimes very specific and selective, in many cases they do not fulfil the process stability required in industrial applications. To improve stability, the enzyme or biocatalyst can be immobilized and the yield increased by plasma-assisted surface modification of the carrier material.