The present invention provides a formulation to link protein to a solid support that comprises one or more proteins, Oligo-dT and one or more non-volatile, water-soluble protein solvents, solutes or combination thereof in an aqueous solution. Further provided is a method of attaching a protein to a surface of a substrate. The formulations provided herein are contacted onto the substrate surface, printed thereon and air dried. The substrate surface is irradiated with UV light to induce thymidine photochemical crosslinking via the thymidine moieties of the Oligo-dT.