Our investigations apply a nanoengineering approach using structural characterization, nanofabrication and properties measurements at surfaces. Research projects provide cross-disciplinary training for students, applying analytical methods to solve problems in combination with systematic studies using analytical chemistry, surface science and protein chemistry. Scientific discoveries in the emerging field of nanoscience are the foundation of new technologies in areas such as molecular electronics, bioinformatics, medical diagnostics, and drug discovery.
Techniques applied in our lab for characterizing thin films, biomolecules and nanomaterials include:
* High-resolution imaging using atomic force microscopy (AFM) & scanning tunneling microscopy (STM)
* Fluorescence microscopy
* Conductive probe measurements using AFM/STM
* Measurements of surface properties (elasticity, magnetic, friction and adhesion forces)
* Development of nanoscale lithographies for structuring surfaces
Nanoengineering is applied to optimize the affinity and selectivity of surfaces of biosensors and biochips.Surfaces can be engineered to avoid non-specific protein adsorption, and yet make specific interactions with targeted proteins to be assayed. Very few surfaces are protein resistive, and it is still a major challenge to understand the mechanisms that contribute to protein resistance or adhesion. Designed surfaces are useful for viewing antigen-antibody binding at the nanometer scale, to assess the specificity of binding, and to evaluate protein orientation and the accessibility of targeted ligands.
Lithographic approaches have been developed for constructing nanostructured surfaces for fundamental studies of protein binding. Particle lithography with proteins can be applied to organize viable protein nanostructures for biosensing. AFM-based lithography with self-assembled monolayers can be used to rapidly and reproducibly create precise arrays of nanometer-sized test structures on surfaces. The height, density, and surface chemistry of nanopatterns can be fine-tuned by the selection of thiolated molecules to be patterned, with designated chain lengths and terminal groups.
In situscanning probe methods provide precise control of surface reaction conditions such as spatial arrangement, chemical composition, and density of ligands. Strengths of an in situ SPM-based approach include the highly local level of morphological detail, as well as imaging and fabrication capabilities in near-physiological, buffered liquid environments. These studies can facilitate the development of new approaches for immobilization and bioconjugation chemistries, which are key technologies used in manufacturing biochip and biosensing surfaces
The reliability and sensitivity of biosensing and biochip technologies depend on the affinity, viability and accessibility of immobilized biological components. Engineering surfaces using the feedback of in situ nanoscale characterization may substantially improve protein detection, revealing detailed information regarding the bioaffinity of designed surfaces. To advance analytical chemistry measurements to the ultimate limits of sensitivity, miniaturization offers rewards of reduced quantities of analytes and reagents, increased density of sensor and chip elements, faster reaction/response time and potential for massive parallel analyses.
Emerging Young Investigator, Gordon Research Conference, Bioanalytical Sensors (2012)
LSU Alumni Association Faculty Excellence Award (2011)
Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (2010)
Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers – PECASE (2009)
Rainmaker, (Top 100 faculty) Louisiana State University (2009)
Commendation, Louisiana Board of Regents (2009)
NSF Early Career Award (2009-2014)
HHMI Distinguished Mentor Award (2009-2010)
Emerging Investigator - Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry journal (for 2009)
Young Investigator Travel Award, Electochemical Society, Phoenix, AZ (2008)
Emerging Young Investigator Travel Award, FACSS - Orlando, FL (2006)
Young Investigator Travel Award, ACS Northwest Regional Meeting - Reno, NV (2006)
Emerging Young Investigator in Analytical Chemistry, The Analyst (2006)
College of Basic Sciences Faculty Research Award, 2005 & 2007
Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award, 2005
National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship, NIST 2003
Daniels, S. L.; Serem, W. K.; Garno, J. C.* Ferritin as a model nanomaterial: Nanolithography and scanning probe microscopy studies. Invited review for Journal of Nanoscience Letters, 2012, 2,14.
Lusker, K. L.; Li, J.-R.; Garno, J. C.* Nanostructures of functionalized gold nanoparticles prepared by particle lithography with organosilanes. Langmuir, 2011, 27, 13269-13275.
Lusker, K. L.; Yu, J.-J.; Garno, J. C.* Particle Lithography with vapor deposition of organosilanes: A molecular toolkit for studying confined surface reactions in nanoscale liquid volumes. Thin Solid Films (by invitation) 2011, 7(519), 5223-5229.
Lewandowski, B. R.; Daniels, S. L.; LeJeune, Z. M.; Lusker, K. L.; Zhou, P.; Sprunger, P.; Lytle, D. A.; Garno, J. C.* Impact of pH, dissolved inorganic carbon and polyphosphates for the initial stages of water corrosion of copper surfaces. CheM, 2011, 1(1), 16-26.
Brown, T. T.; LeJeune, Z. M.; Liu, K.; Hardin, S.; Li, J.-R.; Rupnik, K.; Garno, J. C.* Automated scanning probe lithography with n-alkanethiol self-assembled monolayers on Au(111): Application for teaching undergraduate laboratories. (featuring undergraduate work) Invited by the Analytical Systems Digital Library (ASDL). Young Scientist Award from the Association for Laboratory Automation. Journal of the American Lab Association, 2011, 16, 112-125.
Tian, T.; LeJeune, Z. M.; Serem, W. K.; Yu, J.-J.; Garno, J. C.* Nanografting: A method for bottom-up fabrication of designed nanostructures. Invited Chapter, Ampere A. Tseng (ed.), Tip-Based Nanofabrication, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-9899-6_5, Springer Science + Business Media, LLC, 2011.
Serem, W. K.; Lusker, K. L.; Garno, J. C.* Using scanning probe microscopy to characterize nanoparticles and nanocrystals. Invited chapter for Encyclopedia of Analytical Chemistry, Supplementary Volumes S1-S3, edited by Robert A. Meyers. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., 2011, 859-894. ISBN 978-1-119-999120-5.
Serem, W. K.; Bett, C. K.; Ngunjiri, J. N.; Garno, J. C.* Studies of the growth, evolution and self-aggregation of β-amyloid fibrils using tapping-mode atomic force microscopy. (invited) special issue about NanoBio Imaging and Analysis. Microscopy Research and Technique, 2010, 74(7), 699-708.
Fabre, B.; Hao, E.; LeJeune, Z. M.; Barrière, F.; Garno, J. C.; Vicente, M. G. H. Polythiophenes containing in-chain cobaltabisdicarbollide centers. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 2010, 2(3), 691-702.
Kelley, A. T.; Ngunjiri, J. N.; Serem, W. K.; Yu, J.-J.; Lawrence, S.; Crowe, S.; Garno, J. C.* Applying AFM-based nanofabrication for measuring the thickness of nanopatterns: The role of headgroups in the vertical self-assembly of ω-functionalized n-alkanethiols. Langmuir, 2010, 26 (5), 3040–3049.
Yang, G.; Garno, J. C.; Liu, G.-Y. Scanning probe-based lithography for production of biological and organic nanostructures on surfaces, in Comprehensive Nanoscience and Technology. Ed. David Andrews, Gregory Scholes, Gary Wiederrecht. Elsevier B. V., Amsterdam, 2010. ISBN 13: 978-0-12-374390-9.
LeJeune, Z. M.; Serem, W.; Kelley, A. T.; Ngunjiri, J. N.; Garno, J. C.* AFM-based nanofabrication with self-assembled monolayers. Invited chapter for Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Technology, (2nd edition). Ed. H. S. Nalwa, American Scientific Publishers Stevenson Ranch, CA, 2010.
Lewandowski, B. R.; Lytle, D. A.; Garno, J. C.* Nanoscale investigation of the impact of pH and orthophosphates on the corrosion of copper surfaces in Water. Langmuir, 2010, 26(18), 14671-14679.
Bett, C.; Serem, W. K.; Fontenot, K.; Hammer, R. P. Garno, J. C.* Effects of peptides derived from terminal modifications of the Aβ central hydrophobic core on Aβ fibrillization. ACS Chemical Neuroscience, 2010, 1(10), 661-678. DOI: 10.1021/cn900019r.
Li, J.-R.; Lusker, K. L.; Yu, J. J.; Garno, J. C.,* Engineering the spatial selectivity of surfaces at the nanoscale by patterning organosilane self-assembled monolayers via particle lithography. ACS Nano, 2009, 3, 2023-2035.
Li, J.-R.; Lewandowski, B. R.; Xu, S.; Garno, J. C.* Detecting the magnetic response of iron oxide capped organosilane nanostructures using magnetic sample modulation and atomic force microscopy. Analytical Chemistry, 2009, 81, 4792-4802.
Li, J.-R.; Garno, J. C.* Nanostructures of octadecyltrisiloxane self-assembled monolayers produced on Au(111) using particle lithography. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2009, 1(4), 969–976.
Lewandowski, B. R.; Kelley, A. T.; Singleton, R.; Lowry, M.; Warner, I. M.; Garno, J. C.* Nanostructures of cysteine-coated CdS nanoparticles produced with “two-particle” lithography. Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2009, 113(15), 5933–5940.
Li, J.-R.; Garno, J. C.* Indirect modulation of non-magnetic probes for force modulation AFM, Technical Brief, Analytical Chemistry, 2009, 81(4), 1699-1706.
Daniels, S. L.; Ngunjiri, J. N.; Garno, J. C.* Investigation of the magnetic properties of ferritin by AFM imaging with magnetic sample modulation. By invitation for the special issue featuring Young Investigators. Analytical & Bioanalytical Chemistry, 2009, 394(1), 215-223.
Barrière, F.; Fabre,B.; Hao, E.; LeJeune, Z. M.; Hwang, E.; Garno, J. C.; Nesterov, E. E.; Vicente, M. G. H. Electropolymerizable 2,2´-carboranyldithiophenes. Structure-property investigations of the corresponding conducting polymer films by electrochemistry, UV-visible spectroscopy and conducting probe atomic force microscopy. Macromolecules, 2009, 42 (8), 2981–2987.
Tesfai, A.; El-Zahab, B.; Kelley, A. T.; Li, M.; Garno, J. C.; Baker, G. A.; Warner, I. M. Magnetic and non-magnetic nanoparticles from a group of uniform materials based on organic salts, ACS Nano, 2009, 3(10), 3244-3250.
Li, J.-R.; Garno, J. C.* Elucidating the role of surface hydrolysis in preparing organosilane nanostructures via particle lithography. Nano Letters, 2008, 8, 1916-1922.
Yu, J.-J.; Ngunjiri, J. N.; Kelley, A. T.; Garno, J. C.* Nanografting versus solution self-assembly of α,ω-alkanedithiols on Au(111) investigated by AFM. Langmuir, 2008, 24, 11661-11668.
Ngunjiri, J. N.; Daniels, S. L.; Li, J.-R.; Serem, W. K.; Garno, J. C.* Controlling the surface coverage and arrangement of proteins using particle lithography. (invited) Nanomedicine, 2008, 3(4), 529-541.
Ngunjiri, J. N.; Garno, J. C.* AFM-based lithography for nanoscale protein assays. (invited) A-page feature and cover article: Analytical Chemistry, 2008, 80, 1361-1369.
Ngunjiri, J. N.; Kelley, A. T.; LeJeune, Z. M.; Li, J.-R.; Lewandowski, B.; Serem, W. K.; Daniels, S. L.; Lusker, K. L.; Garno, J. C.* Achieving precision and reproducibility for writing patterns of n-alkanethiol SAMs with automated nanografting. (invited) Scanning, 2008, 30, 123-136.
Li, J.-R.; Garno, J. C.* Electroless deposition of metals on nanopatterns of organosilane SAMs. ECS Transactions, 2008, 13(10), 121-128.
Young, D. P.; Karki, A. B.; Ngunjiri, J. N.; Zhu, H.; Wei, B.; Moldovan, D.; Garno, J. C.; Adams, P. W. Self-assembly of multiwalled carbon nanotubes from quench-condensed CNi3 films. Journal of Applied Physics, 2008, 103, 053503.
Hao, E.; Sibrian-Vazquez, M.; Serem, W.; Garno, J. C.,* Fronczek, F. R.; Vicente, M. G. H.* Synthesis, aggregation and cellular investigations of porphyrin-cobaltacarborane conjugates. Chemistry, A European Journal, 2007, 13, 9035-9042.
Li, J.-R.; Henry, G. C.; Garno, J. C.* Fabrication of nanopatterned films of bovine serum albumin and staphylococcal protein A using latex particle lithography, Emerging Investigators special issue. (invited), Analyst, 2006, 131, 244–250.