Antibody-Antigen assay design for combined optical tweezers and fluorescence

The recent development in combined optical trapping and fluorescence technology promises to enable unbindinig force studies of receptor-ligand interactions, whose specificity play a crucial role in the function of many biological systems. This thesis focuses on the development of assay designs for the study of antibody-antigen binding interactions using combined optical trapping and single molecule fluorescence. The assays create the necessary linkage geometry between the antibody-antigen system under study to an optically trapped bead, enabling force probing of the antibody-antigen binding interaction. In particular, two tether materials and fluorophores were studied: polyethylene glycol (PEG) with Cy-2, and dsDNA with fluorescein. We demonstrate tether formation in the dsDNA-fluorescein antibody-antigen linkage system with preliminary optical trapping data.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2004

Author dc:creator

• Ta, Jenny, 1982-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Matthew J. Lang.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/32789

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/32789