Patent ID: 7521253

Claim:
A method of drug discovery utilizing a nanocalorimeter, the method comprising: depositing at least one drop containing a plurality of drug targets and at least one drop containing a plurality of drug candidates upon a nanocalorimeter test substrate, each drop having a volume in a range between approximately 20 nL and approximately 250 μL; merging said at least one drop containing a plurality of drug targets and said at least one drop containing a plurality of drug candidates by applying a voltage to drop merging electrodes and producing a mixture containing the plurality of drug targets and the plurality of drug candidates; calorimetrically measuring heat from the mixture while maintaining the mixture under appropriate conditions for a sufficient time to allow binding; from the calorimetrically measured heat, detecting whether a reaction has occurred in the mixture resulting in thermal change; and if a reaction has occurred, performing additional screening to identify at least one of the drug candidates in the mixture that reacted with one of the drug targets; the additional screening including: individually testing with each other a single one of the drug targets that was present in the mixture that reacted and a single one of the drug candidates that was present in the mixture that reacted; and detecting whether a reaction occurs between the single one of the drug targets and the single one of the drug candidates.