| Project description
This project is conducted in collaboration between the Chemical Physics group
at Chalmers/GU (Dr. J. Gold) and the Polymer Chemistry group at the Ångström
laboratory, Uppsala University (Prof. J. Hilborn). The Uppsala group is
working with bio-degradable polymers, in this case polyesters (PCL) or
polycarbonates (PTMC) with incorporated phosphoryl choline (PC) head groups.
Phospholipids with the PC head group together with various proteins constitute
a large part of natural cell membranes and therefore this biomimetic polymer
holds promises for a novel type of biomaterial. In this project, the
PC-containing phospholipid-like polymers are to be investigated in terms of
interaction with natural phospholipids. Experiments have for instance
included the ability to make PC lipid bilayers on top of the PC polymer
but also to study the interaction of phospholipids with the PC containing
polymer. The group at Uppsala has developed a novel synthesis to fabricate
the polymeric material. Following the synthesis, the material is covalently
attached onto the QCM crystal. All interaction experiments are performed using
the QCM-D technique at Chalmers/GU. Regarding the coating of the QCM crystals
both a spin-coating method and a grafting method have been evaluated, where
the grafting method has been the most successful. Addition of sonicated POPC
vesicles resulted in adsorption of intact vesicles.
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