SPR is used to detect mass changes on a sensor chip surface. With one molecule (ligand) immobilised on the chip and another (analyte) flowing over the chip, their interaction can be monitored in real time and label-free. There is a wide range of sensor chips and immobilisation strategies for all macromolecules. Depending on experimental design, the affinity or kinetics (on and off rates) can be determined, the concentration of a specific binding partner within a mixture can be measured or inhibition experiments can be performed.

The Biacore 3000 is a moderately high-throughput instrument able to handle samples in 96-well plate format. The system is sensitive and tolerates DMSO allowing small molecule binding experiments. We have an analyte recovery kit to allow MALDI analysis of analyte molecules retained on the chip.