User:Anthony Salvagno/Notebook/Research/2010/07/27/More papers to read

Here is a continuation of the stuff I was reading yesterday.

Forces of Interaction between DNA-Grafted Colloids by Kegler
This seems like a cool paper. They captured two beads one in a micropipette and one with a trap. The beads are 1um in diameter and have DNA attached to them. They say grafted and I'm not sure what that means in this context. They are looking for the interaction between the beads at various DNA lengths.

Their trap is simple looking: They got a trap stiffness of 0.08x10^(-5) N/m.
 * 1W 1064CW laser
 * isolater
 * quarter wave plate
 * beam expander
 * 1.3NA oil immersion objective
 * labview code to analyze images from ccd for detection mechanism

Ok so it turns out by grafted they mean conjugated. The beads are streptavidin/dig coated and they use biotin/anti-dig to couple to the beads. Their beads are from polysciences and they talk about their method of cleaning the beads, which is similar to what I do when I prepare my beads well. They mix the DNA and the beads together and let them sit for 15 min at RT. I should try this (as Koch has mentioned to me several times).

I don't know anything about this polyelectrolyte brush they speak of but they mention something about the DNA-bead pair as being like a mushroom and a brush. They experience purely repulsive forces and I fail to see how that result is paper worthy. Of course this could stem from my lack of understanding about their subject.