Measuring Molecular Interactions
A wide array of biomolecular interactions from protein/protein interactions to small molecule ligand/compound binding interactions are important in biology. Fundamentally, there are two ways to measure (or quantify) binding of any of these interactions. You can measure some response proportional to complex formation at equilibrium and fit to a equilibrium constant, or you can measure binding kinetics by observing binding in real time and fitting the rate constants.
- Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) and Biolayer Interferometry (BLI) are surface-based kinetic methods, but can also be used to measure binding at equilibrium.
- Isothermal Titration Calorimetry (ITC) and MicroScale Thermophoresis (MST) are in-solution equilibrium binding methods.
- The Multimode Plate Reader can be used to perform binding assays using Fluorescence Polarization (FP), Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET), Time-Resolved Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (TR-FRET) and other assays to measure binding.
- Mass Photometry (MP) can be used to detect tight binders and may provide an estimate of affinities.
Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR)
The Biacore T200 from Cytiva, detects Surface Plasmon Resonance, an optical technique used to measure binding kinetics and binding equilibrium.
Isothermal Titration Calorimetry (ITC)
The MicroCal ITC200 from Malvern detects enthalpy of binding for Isothermal Titration Calorimetry, used to measure binding equilibrium.
Multimode Plate Reader
Spark Multimode Plate Reader from Tecan, configured with Absorbance mode, Luminescence mode, and enhanced Fusion Optics Fluorescence mode.
Biolayer Interferometry (BLI)
The Octet R8e and RED384 (RH16) instruments from Sartorius detect Biolayer Interferometry, an optical technique used to measure binding kinetics and binding equilibrium.
MicroScale Thermophoresis (MST)
The Monolith NT.115pico from NanoTemper detects MicroScale Thermophoresis, movement in a temperature gradient, used to measure binding equilibrium.
Mass Photometry (MP)
The TwoMP from Refeyn for Mass Photometry is a single-particle static light scattering detector, used to measure molar mass in solution.
CMI Technologies to Measure Binding
