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The article discusses a study which developed a method for fabricating silica thin films on gold substrates using a rationally designed molecule as a catalytic templates. Topics covered include the synthesis of a catalytic molecule, histidine-conjugated thiol, the experimental procedure for the formation of silica thin films, and the catalytic activity of histidine-terminated self-assembled monolayers (His-SAM) compared with that of amine-SAM.

In the area of cell-surface engineering with nanomaterials, the metabolic and functional activities of the encapsulated cells are manipulated and controlled by various parameters of the artificial shells that encase the cells, such as stiffness and elasticity, thickness, and porosity. The mechanical durability and physicochemical stability of inorganic shells prove superior to layer-by-layer-based organic shells with regard to cytoprotection, but it has been difficult to vary the parameters of inorganic shells including their thickness. In this work, we combine the layer-by-layer technique with a process of bioinspired silicification to control the thickness of the silica shells that encapsulate yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells individually, and investigate the thickness-dependent microbial growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]