Technical Reports

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensors offer a label-free technique for profiling biomolecular interactions, including those between drugs and liposomes. Here we describe the novel surface chemistries that make capturing liposomes possible, and explore the application of the liposome capturing kit in analyzing liposome-small molecule interactions.

The Akt and MAPK signal transduction pathways are key areas of study for their roles in cell growth, function, and death, as well as for their possible roles in cancer development and diabetes. Bio-Rad’s new Bio-Plex Pro™ Akt and MAPK cell signaling assays enable researchers to study the activation of these key pathways as a response to various stimuli. This technical report validates the sensitivity and specificity of these assays after cells were exposed to insulin, EGF (epidermal growth factor), and UV radiation.

Fragment-based screening has emerged as an important tool for identifying lead compounds in drug discovery, though the molecules involved present challenges related to their low affinity. Label-free surface plasmon resonance (SPR) analysis provides an efficient and reproducible solution to these challenges. Here we describe ways to determine small molecule affinity that combines high sensitivity and high throughput with low sample consumption.

Removing host cell protein (HCP) contaminants represents an essential step in the production of biologics (therapeutic protein drugs), but has long been a time- and labor-intensive process. Here, we demonstrate a simpler, quicker, and more standardized workflow for evaluating anti-HCP antibodies using 2-D electrophoresis and western blotting.

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is a well-established and important screening tool in the small molecule drug discovery workflow. Using the Bio-Rad SPR system ProteOn XPR36, rapid optimization of immobilization conditions for a kinase target was carried out in a fast workflow with a single sensor chip, showing the high performance of the ProteOn XPR36 system.

Pathway analysis is an efficient approach for studying a large number of related gene targets in a single experiment. Bio-Rad Laboratories and Thomson Reuters, a leading provider of system biology tools, have partnered to provide predesigned pathway panels for gene expression analyses using real-time qPCR. This tech report describes how Bio-Rad’s PrimePCR™ pathway panels were curated and designed using a ranking strategy developed by Thomson Reuters.

The MIQE guidelines have set a new standard for publishing qPCR results to ensure integrity in the scientific literature and increase experimental transparency. One of the key guidelines focuses on the proper design and experimental validation of primer assays used in qPCR. This tech report describes the design and wet-lab validation of PrimePCR assays and how they comply with the MIQE guidelines.

The T-helper cell (Th17) pathway has been implicated in several autoimmune diseases and in cancer. New magnetic bead–based assays have been developed for several biomarkers in this pathway. The performance characteristics of these assays are evaluated from data on intra- and inter-assay precision, standard curve recovery, cross reactivity, and linearity of dilution.

Hexapeptide libraries, such as Bio-Rad’s ProteoMiner™ protein enrichment technology, can significantly increase sensitivity of shotgun proteomics analyses of diverse complex samples. Underlying this increased sensitivity is the partial removal of high-abundance proteins leading to an increased representation of low-abundance proteins — a phenomenon described as dynamic range compression. Currently, hexapeptide libraries have been mostly used to increase proteomic detection in fluid samples (eg: saliva, plasma, etc.), but not in cellular lysates.

The genes coding for membrane proteins, such as G-protein coupled receptors (GPCR), ion channels, and other membrane-bound enzymes make up 25–30% of the human genome and membrane proteins are estimated to represent 30–40% of the top drug targets. There is growing research, industrial, and commercial interest in the study of membrane proteins in general, and more specifically in immobilizing membrane proteins to various biosensor surfaces.