Switching specific biomolecular interactions on surfaces under complex biological conditions† †Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c4an01225a Click here for additional data file

Electrically switchable surfaces based on oligopeptides are ubiquitous in both switching specific protein interactions in highly fouling media while still offering the non-specific protein-resistance to the surface.
Herein, electrically switchable mixed self-assembled monolayers based on oligopeptides have been developed and investigated for their suitability in achieving control over biomolecular interactions in the presence of complex biological conditions. Our model system, a biotinylated oligopeptide tethered to gold within a background of tri(ethylene glycol) undecanethiol, is ubiquitous in both switching specific protein interactions in highly fouling media while still offering the non-specific protein-resistance to the surface. Furthermore, the work demonstrated that the performance of the switching on the electro-switchable oligopeptide is sensitive to the characteristics of the media, and in particular, its protein concentration and buffer composition, and thus such aspects should be considered and addressed to assure maximum switching performance. This study lays the foundation for developing more realistic dynamic extracellular matrix models and is certainly applicable in a wide variety of biological and medical applications.