Patterning Polymer Brushes and Polymer Brush Gradients Generated by Hyaluronan Synthase

Polymer brushes are relevant to a wide range of industrial and biomedical applications. This makes understanding their fundamental properties crucial to optimizing their design for specific applications. We present a novel platform to fabricate, characterize, and pattern hyaluronan(HA)-based polymer brushes at interfaces using the enzyme HA synthase. The brushes are microns thick, regenerative, and easily tuned. Their extreme thickness makes them amenable to unusual characterization techniques like direct visualization of the brush’s thickness, polymer concentration profile, and penetration by nanoparticles or proteins. In this talk, we present methods to pattern the HA polymer brushes using a UV laser on a confocal microscope, as well as altering the grafting density by UV-deactivation of the HA synthase. We will present data regarding the range of grafting densities available with this approach and provide examples and characterization of polymer brush gradients generated in this fashion. This new experimental platform represents a unique approach to fabricating polymer brushes, distinct from grafting to or from, and provides opportunities for fundamental studies and ultimately applications in the design of functional interfaces.