Quantification of protein interactions and solution transport using high-density GMR sensor arrays

• Source: [@gaster2011Quantification of protein interactions and solution transport using high-density GMR sensor arrays]
• Tags: #giant-magnetic-resistance #biosensor #protein-dynamics

Studying protein dynamics is crucial for many aspects of biology, from DNA hybridization, antigen-antibody binding, and DNA-protein interaction. However, one of the challenges is that the introduction of labels alter the behavior of the studied object (for instance, the diffusion coefficient changes, etc.)

The paper by [@gaster2011Quantification of protein interactions and solution transport using high-density GMR sensor arrays] focuses on using magnetic nanoparticles in combination with giant magnetic resistance sensors. A functionalized surface can trap the magnetic beads and their presence can be detected in parallel, in real-time.

The core message of the work is the development of a model to characterize the protein dynamics between labeled objects and a surface. The model is semi-analytical and seems to describe properly the detected signals.

The biggest advantage over surface plasmon resonance sensors is the large dynamic range (6 log or more compared to 2 log for SPR), and the concentration: $$25\textrm{ng}\,\textrm{ml}^-1$$ versus $$1\textrm{pg}\,\textrm{ml}^-1$$.

This work opens the door to profiling the affinity of specific compounds against an entire proteome.

There is a spinout associated with the project called Flux Biosciences