ABSTRACT
Artificial recognition layers for bioanalytes (cells, bacteria, viruses, proteins etc.) combine biological selectivity with the long-term stability of tailored polymers. They can be produced by surface imprinting procedures where the analyte-to-be is used as template and pressed into a prepolymerized reaction mixture of a highly cross-linked polymer during curing of the material. The cells removed from the surface leave behind adapted cavities that are ideally shaped for reincorporation, as they are formed by self-organization processes of the prepolymer around the cell walls. As these biological samples consist of high molecular weight substances or their assemblies, no bulk imprinting routines can be used as a result of unfavor able layer height and diffusion behavior into the layer. Combining such a layer with a befitting transducer yields sensor devices being highly suitable for the fast, reversible and straightfor ward on-line detection of these analytes.
