Patent ID: 8592347

Claim:
A method of isolating at least one anti-ligand to at least one differentially expressed target ligand comprising the steps of: (i) providing a library of anti-ligands; (ii) providing a population of subtractor ligand constructs, said subtractor ligand constructs comprising a ligand associated with a separation means, wherein said separation means is a physical feature of the subtractor ligand construct; (iii) providing a population of target ligand constructs, said target ligand constructs comprising the same ligand as step (ii) associated with a separation means, wherein said separation means is a physical feature of the target ligand construct; (iv) determining the amounts of subtractor ligand construct and target ligand construct utilizing one or more equations derived from the universal law of mass action [ C ] c ⁡ [ d ] d [ A ] a ⁡ [ B ] b = K eq , where: A, B, C & D=are the participants in the reaction (reactants and products) a, b, c, & d=the coefficients necessary for a balanced chemical equation to permit the determination of the amount of subtractor ligand as compared to target ligand required for isolation of at least one anti-ligand to at least one target ligand; (v) providing the amount of the subtractor ligand construct determined in step (iv); (vi) providing the amount of the target ligand construct determined in step (iv); (vii) exposing the anti-ligand library of (i) to the amounts of subtractor ligand construct provided in step (v) and the amounts of the target ligand construct provided in step (vi) to permit binding of anti-ligands to ligands; and (viii) isolating the anti-ligand bound to the target ligand construct.