(267d) Polymer-Nanotube-Enzyme Composites as Active Antifouling Films

There has been a great deal of interest in devising strategies to minimize fouling of surfaces by proteins. Designing surfaces that resist nonspecific protein adsorption may not only be advantageous for key applications in medicine and biotechnology including arrays to screen protein libraries, diagnostics, bioreactors, and separations, but may also be beneficial in preventing microbial fouling. Different approaches have been identified to resist protein adsorption, with much attention being directed towards development of strategies to modify surface chemistry. An alternative to the chemical approaches that resist fouling involves the design of functional materials or coatings that incorporate enzymes. We describe the design of functional nanocomposites ? in particular these films incorporate conjugates of enzymes with carbon nanotubes. In this study, we have exploited the attractive features of carbon nanotubes ? high surface area per unit weight, high strength and aspect ratio, in addition to their ability to enhance enzyme stability under abiotic environments in the design of highly stable and self-cleaning polymer-enzyme composite films that prevent protein fouling. Furthermore, we demonstrate that bioactive surface coatings are not limited to proteases but can be extended to polysaccharide hydrolases as well. Future studies that are underway in the lab will explore the preparation of polymer systems incorporating conjugates of nanotubes with a suite of enzymes that cover a wide range of biocatalytic functions, including proteolytic, glycolytic, and antimicrobial to effectively resist fouling from proteins and microorganisms and/or prevent initial stages of biofilm formation.