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Topic

Label-Free Study of Bovine Serum Albumin Conformational Dynamics using Optical Nanotweezers and Experimental Analysis of Asymmetric DNH Nanostructures

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Date & location

• Tuesday, November 26, 2024

• 9:30 A.M.

• Engineering and Computer Science Building

• Room 660

Reviewers

Supervisory Committee

• Dr. Reuven Gordon, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Victoria (Supervisor)

• Dr. Levi Smith, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UVic (Member) 

External Examiner

• Dr. Abhay Kotnala, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Houston 

Chair of Oral Examination

• Dr. Eric Higgs, School of Environmental Studies, UVic

   

Abstract

This thesis concerns the label-free investigation of Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) conformational dynamics and the interaction of different proteins with gold surfaces using Double Nanohole (DNH) optical tweezers. It is divided into two parts: Study of conformational changes of labeled and unlabelled BSA and investigation of electrostatic interactions between proteins and gold surfaces. The Gibbs energy for the N to F states was calculated for both labeled and unlabelled BSA from the free energy diagram and the values show a small effect of labeling on the protein. This Chapter also explored the effect of electrostatic interactions between the gold surface and proteins with different charges on the trapping stiffness. Further, the experimental investigation of the development of a new nanostructure called Asymmetric Double Nanohole and its possible application in optical trapping are described in this thesis. Fabrication techniques and result analysis are described, even though the trap ping efficiency turned out to be the same as that for traditional DNH structures.