Attana

In the paper in "Journal of Colloid And Interface Science", the Attana quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) is applied to study the electrical response of two ionic liquids. Controlled by an applied electric field, the structure and interaction of ionic liquids on the surface, can be monitored and optimized. This is of high importance for the development of e.g. environment friendly lubricants. This is the third paper by the team of Prof Ruthland that demonstrates how Attana technology can be applied to monitor interaction properties by changing the electrical potential at surfaces.

For drug development this is of importance because many interactions in the human body are strongly affected by electrical charges at e.g. the cell surfaces. The pH of human liquids is different, e.g in the blood stream or inside a cell, and that effects the surface charges. Therefore, there is a potential for drug development to tailor local charges on drug molecules such as antibodies, which can then be applied to minimize off-target interactions or improve target interactions. Thanks to Prof. Ruthland's work Attana technology can be applied to optimize drug properties with respect to electrostatic interactions.