Tuesday, 23 February, 2010
Optical Thermophoresis for Quantifying the Buffer Dependence of Aptamer Binding
P. Baaske, C. J. Wienken, P. Reineck, S. Duhr, D. Braun -
Angew. Chem. int. Edition, Published Online: 23 Feb 2010
Some like it hot: A robust and fast method for characterizing aptamers relies on the distinct thermophoretic movements of molecules in microscopic temperature gradients (see diagram). The binding properties of proteins and even small molecules can be measured within seconds, and less than 1 L of sample is required. Notably, the technique works well in complex liquids such as human serum.