Chapter One

Rebecca L. Rich and David G. Myszka Center for Biomolecular Interaction Analysis, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

1.1 Introduction 1

1.2 SPR Pessimists 4

1.3 Setting Up Experiments 8

1.4 Data Processing and Analysis 13

1.5 The Good News 22

References 25

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Initially, we had planned to discuss the revolution of real-time, label-free biosensor applications. This revolution has been monumental. In the early days, biosensors were used as immunosensors to characterize antibody/antigen interactions. It didn't take long for researchers to exploit the technology's capabilities to examine other biological systems, including receptors, nucleic acids, and lipids. Once people recognized that low intensity signals were reliable, the biosensor quickly became a tool for characterizing small molecules and even membrane-associated systems.

Upon reflection, we realized a greater development was in users' understanding of how to apply biosensor technology. How we design experiments and analyse data today is different than in years past. Improvements in data processing and global fitting have eliminated much, but not all, of the confusion biosensor users experience when interpreting binding responses. With these advances it is now easier to recognize well performed experiments. So a better title for this discussion may be "Evolution in Our Understanding of Biosensor Analysis".

When we look at