Charge-sensitive optical detection of binding kinetics between phage displayed peptide ligands and protein targets

A method of analyzing a solution to assess the presence target molecules in a sample, the method comprising:

• providing the sample to a sensing region of a sample well;
• contacting the sample with a sensor probe comprising molecular receptors configured to interact with the target molecules;
• providing light along a length of the sensor probe;
• applying an alternating electric field perpendicular to the length of the sensor probe;
• detecting a position of light exiting the sensor probe;
• assessing, based at least in part on the position of light exiting the sensor probe, an amplitude of the oscillation of the sensor probe;
• and
• assessing, based at least in part on the amplitude of the oscillation of the sensor probe, the binding kinetics of the target molecules,
• wherein the molecular receptors comprise phages or phages displaying ligands, and the target molecules comprise peptides, proteins, or both.

A method of analyzing a solution to assess the presence target molecules in a sample, the method comprising:

• contacting the sample with a sensor probe that comprises phage-displayed peptide ligands that bind the target molecules in the sample;
• applying an alternating electric field perpendicular to the length of the sensor probe;
• detecting a position of light exiting the sensor probe;
• assessing, based at least in part on the position of light exiting the sensor probe, an amplitude of the oscillation of the sensor probe;
• and,
• assessing, based at least in part on the amplitude of the oscillation of the sensor probe, the binding kinetics of the target molecules, thereby analyzing the solution to assess the presence the target molecules in the sample.