Patent ID: 7998694

Claim:
A method of revealing a biological process using a FRET measurement, comprising incorporating, into a measurement medium containing a plasma membrane, a biological entity X coupled with a first member of a pair of FRET partners and a second biological entity Y coupled with the second member of the pair of FRET partners, wherein the biological entities are each, independently from one another, an intrinsic or an extrinsic membrane protein, a transmembrane protein, a cytosoluble compound, a test ligand or an antibody, and the energy-donating member of the pair of FRET partners is a rare earth chelate or a rare earth cryptate, and the acceptor fluorophore is a rhodamine, a cyanin, a squaraine, a difluoroboradiazaindacene (BODIPY), a fluorescein, a compound of the ALEXFLUOR family of compounds, a quantum dot, a phycobiliprotein, a GFP or a derivative thereof which is YFP or CFP, or a fluorescent coral protein, the members of said pair of FRET partners being located on either side of the plasma membrane; exciting the measurement medium at the excitation wavelength of the energy-donating member; and measuring the FRET signal or the variations in said signal emitted in said culture medium.