Biolayer Interferometry (BLI)

CMI BLI resources and user guide⬇︎

Bio-Layer Interferometry (BLI) is an optical technique for measuring macromolecular interactions by analyzing interference patterns of white light reflected from the surface of a biosensor tip.  BLI experiments are used to determine the kinetics and affinity of molecular interactions. In a BLI experiment, one molecule is immobilized to a Dip and Read Biosensor and binding to a second molecule is measured. A change in the number of molecules bound to the end of the biosensor tip causes a shift in the interference pattern that is measured in real-time. Sensors are moved from one well of a microplate to another to change solution between samples (load sample and analyte sample) and buffer for baselines and dissocation.

The CMI has two high sensitivity Sartorius (formerly ForteBio) instruments for measuring BLI of macromolecular and small molecule interactions: the Octet R8e,and the Octet RED384 (now called Octet RH16).  The Octet R8e is more sensitive and has a wider temperature range, whereas the Octet Red384 has a 2x higher throughput. See Octet Instrument Comparison.

Applications 

• Kinetic binding: k_a, k_d
• Equilibrium binding: K_D
• Macromolecular and small molecule binding

Key  Features

• Disposable biosensors (regeneration not required)
• Simultaneous real-time binding on 8 or 16 biosensors
• 96 or 384 well reagent plate format