Injection / Deposition
Scanning ion conductance microsopy can be used to deposit or inject material from the tip of the pipette to a surface with very high spatial resolution. The material deposited or injected can include but is not limited to: proteins, DNA and nano-particles. Studies have shown that the technique can deposit single molecules of protein to a surface¹.
The images above show how SICM can be used to deposit fluorescently labelled DNA to a surface, the depostion is monitored and the subsequent image taken by fluorescence microscopy².
¹Bruckbauer, A., James, P., et al. (2007). "Nanopipette delivery of individual molecules to cellular compartments for single-molecule fluorescence tracking." Biophys J, 93(9), 3120-31.
²Rodolfa, K. T., A. Bruckbauer, et al. (2005). "Two-Component Graded Deposition of Biomolecules with a Double-Barreled Nanopipette." Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 44(42): 6854-59.
