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A novel, direct technique has been developed to measure the interactions of bovine serum albumin (BSA) on surfaces by using atomic force microscopy (AFM) in a liquid environment. We have been able to measure adhesion forces between proteins and substrate surfaces in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) solution directly, without any modification to the substrate and the AFM tip. Two different surfaces have been used in the measurements: mica (hydrophilic surface) and polystyrene (hydrophobic surface). The results show that a polystyrene surface has larger adhesion forces to BSA than a mica surface. This is consistent with previous research, which demonstrated that hydrophobic surfaces enhance protein adhesion but hydrophilic surfaces do not.

Iron oxide nanoparticles were prepared and functionalized by succinamide based dendrimer. The resultant particles were characterized by XRD, VSM, and FTIR spectroscopy. The results indicate that the dendrimers has effectively functionalized the magnetite nanoparticles which remain dispersive and exhibited super-paramagnetism with a magnetization value of 33.2 emu/g in a field of 2T. Mean particle size as calculated from the AFM was found to be ~ 23 nm. Bovine serum albumin was immobilized on the magnetic nanoparticles as was confirmed by the FTIR results.