Dna Attachment to Carbon Electrodes for Bionanoelectronics Platforms

OF THE THESIS DNA Attachment to Pyrolyzed Carbon Electrodes for Bionanoelectronics Platforms by Mieko Hirabayashi Masters of Science in Bioengineering: Bioinstrumentation San Diego State University, 2012 Research to understand the electrical properties of DNA as an electrical component continues with the objective of determining the use of DNA as the next generation nanoelectronics component. This study experimentally investigates the possibility of generating electronic platforms for DNA using carbon electrodes generated from patterned negative tone photoresist. The use of negative tone photoresist allows for the development of three dimensional platforms consisting of electrodes and traces that can be designed and patterned using conventional lithography techniques. In this study, electrodes with bump pads were designed and manufactured using negative tone photoresist. In order to alter the structure of the negative tone photoresist into a form of conductive carbon, the photoresist structure underwent a pyrolysis heating process. In the pyrolysis process, a reduction in oxygen was expected. This decrease in oxygen was confirmed by Electron Dispersion X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX). By nature, carbon tends to be inert except at edges and defect locations. In order to attach anything to carbon, the area of attachment needed to be functionalized. Functionalization of carboxyl group on the surface of the electrode was done via oxygen plasma treatment. Confirmation of carboxyl groups was done with EDX and FTIR. With carboxyl groups on the surface on surface of the pyrolyzed carbon, carboxylamine cross linkers could be used to attach aminated oligonucleotides. This was done utilizing a reaction between 1-Ethyl-3-[3-dimethylaminopropyl] carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC) and N-hydroxysulfosuccinimide (Sulfo-NHS) to generate a peptide bond between the carboxylated electrode and the aminated oligonucleotide. After the carboxyl-amine crosslinking reaction was completed, the sticky ends of the DNA were hybridized with