title: Ultrafiltration membrane for electrophoretic capturing of pathogens for AFM imaging.
abstract: This communication describes a simple and rapid technique for electrophoretically assisted capture of phages, viruses, and other pathogens on the surface of an ultrafiltration membrane that can be considered smooth at the nanoscale. The surface was prepared by coating commercial dialysis membrane with a micrometer-thick layer of cross-linked dextran or globular proteins. To ensure strong adherence of the coating, the surface of the dialysis membrane was activated in cold plasma. It was shown that the root-mean-square roughness of the coating was well below 1 nm when the polymer solution used for coating was allowed to slowly dry through a dialysis membrane left in direct contact with mica. Relatively small viral particles (e.g., fd phages 0.7 microm long and only 3.5 nm high in the dry state) are readily visible by AFM following electrophoretic capture from suspensions containing as few as 1 x 10(6) particles/mL onto membranes prepared as described.
authors.affiliation: National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases, George Mason University, Manassas, Virginia 20110, USA. vmorozov@gmu.edu
authors.forename: Victor N
authors.initials: VN
authors.lastname: Morozov
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Evanskey
authors.forename: Yian Kim
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Debra
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shaffer
authors.forename: Tamara Ya
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Morozova
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bailey
mesh_terms: D000256:Adenoviridae / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D017104:Bacteriophage M13 / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D004586:Electrophoresis; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D014462:Ultrafiltration
chemical_list: D008567:Membranes, Artificial