| Molecular Interaction Facility |
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Affinity-based Biosensor Technology
The
Molecular Interaction Facility provides the affinity-based biosensor technology
for monitoring biomolecular interactions in real time and without the use of
labels, between two or more molecules such as proteins, peptides, nucleic
acids, carbohydrates, lipids and low molecular weight molecules such as
signaling molecules and peptide-mimetics. The UAMS
BIACORE Facility, located in the ACRC (Rm 341), has at present a Biacore 3000.
The
elucidation of the mechanism of ligand-receptor recognition is inextricably dependent on quantitative characterization of
macromolecular interaction properties. Optical biosensor techniques
provide a unifying instrumentation platform to measure the kinetics of macromolecular
interaction across a wide range of molecular sizes and affinity of interacting
partners. Potential applications include affinity measurements and binding
kinetics, concentration determinations, binding specificity analyses, and
epitope mapping. Biosensor data
output can allow a measurement of on and off rates at varying solution conditions
such as pH and temperature, hence allowing a determination of the mechanistic
nature of both docking and dissociation processes. Finally, optical
biosensor instrumentation can be used to measure interactions in multimolecular
complexes.
Optical biosensor technology can be used
to investigate such questions as:
Which components interact, and under
what conditions? How fast do they bind and dissociate?
How strongly do they interact?
How much active interactant is present
in a sample?
How is the interaction influenced by
effectors, cofactors, molecular modifications etc?
Do different components influence each
other's binding to a common interactant, for example by steric, allosteric or
cooperative effects?
The core
facility provides training in the use of the instruments, and assistance with
experimental planning and data analysis when needed. This Core Facility, the
first in Arkansas, was created in 2003 with support from Tobacco Settlement Funds
and the Arkansas Breast Cancer Act.