Development and characterization of stabilized, polymerized phospholipid bilayers on silica particles for specific immobilization of His-tagged proteins / created by Seid M. Adem

Stabilized phospholipid bilayer (PLB) coated silica microspheres were prepared via polymerization of lipid monomers. These lipid coated silica microspheres are stable to both extended storage in solution at 4∘C and dry storage at room temperature. These stabilized lipid coated microspheres have also been functionalized with nickel-chelating lipids, a commonly used tool for immobilizing polyhistidine-tagged proteins. It is shown that 6xHis-EGFP interacts with (poly)bis-SorbPC/DOGS-NTA-Ni2+ coated silica and this interaction was interrupted by washing with imidazole indicating the reversibility of the interaction. No interaction was observed between the functionalized silica substrate and EGFP, which lacks the 6xHis-tag. Furthermore, these biocompatible (poly)bis-SorbPC coated microspheres were able to minimize non-specific protein adsorption.