Statistical mechanical modeling of protein adsorption

We present rationale for and a derivation of a statistical mechanical model of protein adsorption. Proteins are modeled as rigid geometric objects adsorbing initially in a reversible manner and subsequently undergoing an irreversible change in shape to a permanently adsorbed state. Both adsorption and shape change occur subject to energetic interactions with previously adsorbed proteins. We evaluate the model quantitatively for proteins with disk-shaped projections within the scaled particle theory and compare the predictions to experimental measurements taken via optical waveguide lightmode spectroscopy.