Microgels are hydrogel micron-sized particles, that are used in a variety of biologically-related applications. Microgels are hydrogels in particulate form and can be synthesized to be environmentally-responsive. Microgels are most often observed in colloidal suspensions, however in this research, the interest lies in observing their interfacial properties when they are immobilized to a surface. The hypothesis is that surface-functionalized microgels have soft, deformable surfaces that will spread slightly on an adhesive surface. This hypothesis will be verified by measuring the size of surface-functionalized NIPAM microgel particles that were adheared to an adhesive surface. In this work, NIPAM microgels were surface-functionalized prior, by crosslinkng albumin bovine serum (BSA) via EDC/sulfo-NHS chemistry, and the efficacy of the crosslinking reaction was analyzed via MicroBCA assay. This research showed that microgel particles, containing 2% BIS crosslinking agent have some BSA that has been successfully conjugated to the surface of the microgels. According to the data collected from the MicroBCA assay, there is ~ 25% efficacy of BSA conjugation to the microgels. Our lab will use these results to further analyze the interfacial behavior between these soft microgel particles on substrates, with the future intent to develop into a biosensor.
