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Dr D Bax

Biomolecule interactions with materials are critical for a wide range of applications including bio-fouling, food processing, industrial chemistry, medical implantation and research and development. As such, this course will cover the fundamental processes occurring at material-biomolecule interfaces. As the majority of biological molecules exist in aqueous solutions, the course will start by investigating the interaction of materials with aqueous, ionic solutions.

We will then investigate the interaction of small molecules with surfaces and compare this with the interaction of large molecules. Using the principles learnt from these single molecule associations, we will extend this to explore interfaces with a complex multi-biomolecule solution, for example as encountered during blood contact. Throughout this course we will discuss the experimental techniques used to examine biomolecule-surface interactions.

This lecture course will cover:

  • Applications of biomolecule association with materials
  • Material interactions with aqueous solutions
  • Forces and energetics of small molecule (amino acid/peptide) association with materials
  • Large molecule-surface interactions including molecular density, conformation and orientation
  • Biomolecule association from a multi-component solution
  • Covalent biomolecule tethering
  • Techniques to examine the biomolecule-surface interface