Development and characterization of self-assembled monolayers for examination of antibody oligomerization

Abstract

In current studies investigating the oligomerization of antibodies, the research team of the University of applied Sciences Upper Austria embeds antigens in lipid bilayers in order to investigate their interactions and oligomerization. However, this method has the disadvantage that the antigen distribution in the membrane is not homogenous. An alternative approach using self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) was therefore developed and tested as part of this master's thesis to enable a more precise investigation of antibody binding. A quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) was used as the central measurement technique. The SAMs were fabricated on gold chips with the surface chemistry activated by EDC/NHS to allow binding of DNP-lysine and subsequently antibodies. Although the protocol developed in the course of this work provided only partially reproducible results, the basic principle was successfully demonstrated with a chip, offering promising approaches for future research.

Date of Award	2024
Original language	English
Supervisor	Andreas Karner (Supervisor)