Biophysical characterization

A wide variety of physical technologies is available in the Department for the detection of biomarkers in biological fluids and the quantitative characterization of biomolecular interactions, properties of vesicles and thin films, colloidal dispersions and mechanical properties of biomaterials. Within the SCALE UP project, the platform is being expanded with:

– Biacore X100, a label-free instrument based on Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) which allows the analysis of kinetic interactions between biomolecules in real time, without the need of labelling, with high sensitivity in samples of few tens of microliters.

– Nicolet iS50 FTIR spectrometer with MCT detector, which can quantify in real time, through vibrational spectra, compositional profiles and changes in biological samples like e.g. lipid/protein ratios in natural extracts, or information about molecular groups interacting with target membranes.

– Anton Paar MCR 302e modular compact rheometer, to measure quantify elastic and viscoelastic properties of soft and biological materials at different temperatures