Welcome! These are the Web Pages for the Research Group of Robert M. Corn in the Chemistry Department at the University of California-Irvine. We have three major areas of research:

• Surface Chemistry

  We also devote a substantial effort to the attachment chemistry and array fabrication chemistry strategies for oligonucleotides (both DNA and RNA), polypeptides, proteins, and carbohydrates at chemically modified gold surfaces. Our attachment chemistry utilizes linking reactions of modified biomolecules with self assembled of alkanethiol monolayers. We have also created some unique microfluidic methods for creating biopolymer arrays.

• Surface Spectroscopy

  We rely on a variety of surface sensitive spectroscopies to characterize condensed phase interfaces. For example, we routinely use Polarization Modulation FTIR Reflection-Absorption Spectroscopy (PM-FTIRRAS) to obtain the infrared vibrational spectra of ultrathin organic films at metal surfaces. Our PM-FTIR experiments are performed with the Synchronous Sampling Demodulator (SSD) electronics from GWC Technologies. Another area that we've been working in for a number of years is the application of optical spectroscopies such as the nonlinear optical technique of Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) to the study of surfactants at liquid/liquid interfaces,including the interface between two immiscible electrolyte solutions. Most recently, we've been working on the development of ultrathin polypeptide films for the study of liquid/liquid interfaces. Most recently, we have been using surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPR imaging) measurements to optically detect bioaffinity binding events at gold surfaces.

• Surface Biochemistry

  SPR Imaging Measurements of Biopolymer Adsorption. A significant portion of our research is devoted to the use of Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) as a method for monitoring the adsorption of molecules onto chemically modified gold surfaces. Some of our most recent efforts have been in the study of the adsorption of biopolymers such as oligonucleotides and proteins.

We also participate in a long term group project on DNA Computing at Surfaces. Our goal is to create surfaces that hold combinatorial mixtures of short oligonucleotides, and to use hybridization adsorption and enzymatic manipulation to perform "calculations" on this surface DNA population. The DNA computing page tells you all about the project as well as our most recent work in the area.