BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//NextToU//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:dfb574d0-6294-4485-a1e5-111343158a0a@nexttoyou
DTSTAMP:20261105T160836Z
DTSTART:20261105T211000Z
DTEND:20261105T220000Z
SUMMARY:NQPI Seminar 11/05/2026 - Umar Umaru
LOCATION:Walter Hall 145\, 25 South Green Drive\, Athens\, Ohio 45701
DESCRIPTION:The Nanoscale and Quantum Phenomena Institute (NQPI) Seminar S
 eries is pleased to welcome Umar Umaru\, Ohio University\, as our feature
 d speaker on Thursday\, November 5 at 4:10 p.m. All seminars take place i
 n Walter 145 and are also accessible virtually via Teams.\n\nTitle: Minim
 izing Non-Specific Binding of Oligonucleotides to Glass Surface via PEGyl
 ation\n\nAbstract: My project aims to develop a single-molecule strategy 
 to obtain optical maps of stretched DNA molecules. A central challenge in
  single-molecule measurements is non-specifically bound biomolecules on t
 he imaging surface\, which are difficult to distinguish from genuine targ
 et interactions. Nonspecific binding can distort kinetic parameters and c
 omplicate data analysis consequently inaccurate results. NHS-functionaliz
 ed polyethylene glycol (PEG) is standardly employed for surface passivati
 on to minimize nonspecific binding. However\, the method relies on treati
 ng the surface with 3-Aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES)\, which deposits
  amine groups onto the surface\, to which the PEG molecules are attached 
 via covalent coupling to the APTES-functionalized amine groups. Because g
 rafted PEG chains sterically hinder access\, a significant fraction of pr
 imary surface amines remains unreacted. These residual\, unneutralized am
 ine sites introduce localized positive charges that readily attract negat
 ively charged biomolecules like DNA\, particularly under low-ionic-streng
 th buffer conditions.\n\nStandard monofunctional PEG-NHS coupling f\n\nht
 tp://next-to-u.app/events/dfb574d0-6294-4485-a1e5-111343158a0a
URL:http://next-to-u.app/events/dfb574d0-6294-4485-a1e5-111343158a0a
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR