BIA-MS enables identification of unknown binding partners

BIA-technology is ideally suited as a micro-affinity purification platform allowing on-line detection of binding events and direct quantification of bound material on sensor surfaces. Kinetic parameters may be obtained as additional information. Provided that a binding partner has been captured on the sensor chip it can be recovered by a gentle elution for further downstream analyses like mass spectrometry or western blot analysis.

An added benefit of biosensor sytems in comparison to classical chromatographic methods are the monitoring of the binding event in real time. Biosensor sytems show reduced unspecific binding, are designed for recovery of very small volumes (3-7 μl) and are readily automated. 

Biacore technology is instrumental at all stages of the ligand discovery process and can be used to isolate and identify target molecules from a complex biological mixture.

The identification of unknown ligands is of particular interest for revealing function of orphan receptors, for the detection of cellular interaction networks and for testing the biocompatibility of novel surface coatings.