DNA and protein microarray printing on silicon nitride waveguide surfaces

Sputtered silicon nitride optical waveguide surfaces were silanized and modified with a hetero-bifunctional crosslinker to facilitate thiol-reactive immobilization of contact-printed DNA probe oligonucleotides, streptavidin and murine anti-human interleukin-1β capture agents in microarray formats. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to characterize each reaction sequence on the native silicon oxynitride surface. Thiol-terminated DNA probe oligonucleotides exhibited substantially higher surface printing immobilization and target hybridization efficiencies than non-thiolated DNA probe oligonucleotides: strong fluorescence signals from target DNA hybridization supported successful DNA oligonucleotide probe microarray fabrication and specific capture bioactivity. Analogously printed arrays of thiolated streptavidin and non-thiolated streptavidin did not exhibit noticeable differences in either surface immobilization or analyte capture assay signals. Non-thiolated anti-human interleukin-1β printed on modified silicon nitride surfaces reactive to thiol chemistry exhibited comparable performance for capturing human interleukin-1β analyte to commercial amine-reactive microarraying polymer surfaces in sandwich immunoassays, indicating substantial non-specific antibody-surface capture responsible for analyte capture signal.