Professor
Milan Mrksich
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
University of Chicago
Etter Lecture
Series
Label-Free Methods for Analyzing and Screening Biochemical Activities with BioChips
This talk will describe an approach for using mass spectrometry to analyze biochips-including enzyme-mediated reactions of immobilized biomolecules and protein-protein interactions. The method is based on self-assembled monolayers of alkanethiolates on gold that present proteins and small molecules with control over the densities, patterns and orientations of these species. The chips are compatible with matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry and therefore do not require fluorescent or radioisotopic labels for analysis. This technique, termed SAMDI MS, can efficiently monitor a broad class of enzyme activities-including kinase, protease, methyltransferase and carbohydrate-directed modifications-and can detect proteins having molecular weights up to 100 kD. The talk will describe examples for performing assays of endogeneous cellular activities, for mapping protein-protein interactions, and studying unique kinetic aspects of interfacial enzyme reactions.
