AFM to Study Bio/Nonbio Interactions

This chapter describes a versatile approach to immobilize proteins and other biomolecules on reactive self-assembled monolayers on gold as a means to study interactions (forces) between these biomolecules and nonbiological entities. Biomolecules are either immobilized on the surface of flat substrates or on the surface of gold-coated atomic force microscopy (AFM) probe tips. In addition to the immobilization protocols, the actual AFM experiments in liquid and the quantitative analysis of adhesive forces receive attention. With these procedures and tools at hand, a wide variety of problems in the area of bio/nonbio interactions can be addressed experimentally.