Patent ID: 6837977
Filing Date: 2005-01-04
Classification: G01N

Abstract:
1. A method of screening a complex material for an unidentified candidate ligand that binds to a pre-selected target, comprising the steps of: (a) providing a mixture of the complex material and a predetermined concentration of the target, resulting in a target/sample mixture, and separately providing a predetermined concentration of a known, detectable, competitive ligand that binds to the target; (b) sequentially injecting into a capillary of a capillary electrophoresis instrument having a detector, a first plug of analyte and a second plug of analyte, wherein the first and second plugs of analyte comprise a combination selected from the group consisting of: (c) subjecting the first and second plugs to capillary electrophoresis under conditions optimized for detecting at least one member selected from the group consisting of unbound competitive ligand and a complex of the competitive ligand bound to the target, and optimized so that detected analytes from the second plug migrate faster than detected analytes from the first plug toward the detector and pass through the first plug during capillary electrophoresis, prior to the detected analytes reaching the detector; (d) tracking the competitive ligand at the detector to generate a capillary electrophoretic migration pattern; and (e) determining whether the migration pattern from step (d) differs from a reference standard, thereby indicating the presence of a candidate ligand in the complex material.