Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) is a widely used and extremely powerful technique for studying molecular interactions. It is label free and highly sensitive making it the gold standard for quantifying interaction kinetics and affinities. Our facility has expertise in generating accurate measurements across a wide range of affinities and in analysing diverse chemical reactions (e.g. catalytic reactions, polymerisation reactions, multivalent binding).
Analysis of ultra-low affinity interactions (see eLife – https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.67092).
Analysis of monovalent and bivalent antibody/antigen interactions (see BioRxiv – https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.09.06.556503).
The SPR facility in the Dunn School provides access to a fully-maintained BIAcore T200, which balances high sensitivity with high temporal resolution. We provide all core reagents and consumables required for experiments, and maintain a variety of SPR chips in stock.
Our friendly and supportive team also provides training and advice on all aspects of your work including sample preparation, instrument operation, experiment design, and data analysis and interpretation.
Services are provided to both academic and commercial users.
Our facility has specific expertise in investigating interactions across a wide range of affinities with diverse chemistries. Here are some examples of our work:
Analysis of T cell receptor binding to pMHC antigens from picmolar to millimolar affinities
*Pettmann, J., *Huhn, A., *Abu Shah, E., Kutuzov, M.A., Wilson, D.B., Dustin, M.L., Davis, S.J., van der Merwe, P.A. and Dushek, O. (2021) The discriminatory power of the T cell receptor. eLife
Lever, M., Lim, H.S., Kruger, P., Nguyen, J., Trendel, N., Abu-Shah, E., Maini, P.K., van der Merwe, P.A. and Dushek, O. (2016) Architecture of a minimal signalling pathway explains the T cell response to a 1,000,000-fold variation in antigen affinity and dose. PNAS
Analysis of bivalent antibodies binding to monovalent antigens
Huhn A, Nissley D, Wilson DB, Kutuzov M, Donat R, Tan TK, Zhang Y, Barton MI, Liu C, Dejnirattisai W, Supasa P, Mongkolsapaya J, Townsend A, James W, Screaton G, van der Merwe PA, Deane CM, Isaacson SA, Dushek O (2025) The molecular reach of antibodies crucially underpins their viral neutralisation capacity. Nature Communications
Analysis of catalytic reactions using a tyrosine phosphatase
Goyette J, Solis Salas C, Coker-Gordon N, Bridge M, Isaacson SA, Allard J, Dushek O (2017) Biophysical assay for tethered signalling reactions reveals tether-controlled acitivty for the phosphatase SHP-1. Science Advances
Analysis of polymerisation reactions on DNA
Paoletti F, El-Sagheer AH, Allard J, Brown T, Dushek O, Esahi F (2020) Molecular flexibility of DNA as a key determinant of RAD51 recruitment. EMBO Journal
Here is an introduction to SPR by Anton van der Merwe. For further information, please contact us (spr@path.ox.ac.uk).