Selective Functionalization of Microstructured Surfaces by Laser‐Assisted Particle Transfer

Microcavity arrays represent millions of different reaction compartments to screen, for example, molecular interactions, exogenous factors for cells or enzymatic activity. A novel method is presented to selectively synthesize different compounds in arrays of microcavities with up to 1 000 000 cavities per cm². In this approach, polymer microparticles with embedded pre‐activated monomers are selectively transferred into microcavities with laser radiation. After particle patterning, heating of the particle matrix simultaneously leads to diffusion and coupling of the monomers inside each microcavity separately. This method exhibits flexibility, not only in the choice of compounds, but also in the choice of particle matrix material, which determines the chemical reaction environment. The laser‐assisted selective functionalization of microcavities can be easily combined with the intensively growing number of laser applications for patterning of molecules and cells, which is useful for the development of novel biological assays.     

Biomolecule Arrays Using Functional Combinatorial Particle Patterning on Microchips

Biofunctionalization of surfaces in a microarray format has revolutionized biological assay applications. Here, a microarray system based on a microelectronic chip is presented that allows for a versatile combinatorial in situ molecule synthesis with very high density. Successfully demonstrating an application for peptide array synthesis, the method offers a compact approach, high combinatorial freedom, and, due to the intrinsic alignment, high and reproducible precision. Patterning the chip surface with different microparticle types which imbed different monomers, several thousand different molecule types can be simultaneously elongated layer‐by‐layer by coupling the particle imbedded monomers to the molecules growing on the chip surface. This technique has the potential for a wide application in combinatorial chemistry, as long as the desired monomeric building blocks are compatible with the chemical process.     

Channel codes based on hidden puncturing with applications to hybrid in band on channel digital audio broadcasting systems

In this work, a new approach of designing channel codes for partial band interference channels based on "Hidden Puncturing" is introduced. This technique does not require explicit estimation of the interferer. We investigate the performance of specially designed rate 1/2 convolutional codes with Viterbi decoding and rate 1/2 Turbo codes in an example scenario with partial band FM interference. For comparison, we also give results for Turbo codes for schemes with no interference. We show by means of simulations that for Gaussian as well as for a variety of multipath fading profiles, a significant Turbo channel coding gain compared to a conventional Viterbi system can be achieved. Thereby the performance of optimal combining, which requires optimal estimation of the interferer, can be approached very closely in various scenarios.