Multiple reflectance interference spectroscopy measurements made in parallel for binding studies

Reflectometric interference spectroscopy (RIfS) for the direct optical detection of biomolecular interaction has gained increasing interest in recent years compared to fluorophore based assays. The method has been established in the last decade as a robust and simple optical tool to perform such binding studies taking advantage of low temperature dependence and its capability of time-resolved monitoring of binding processes. Therefore various single-channel setups are given in review. In addition, the capability of parallel measurements and miniaturisation is discussed. The different properties of the setups are presented and the theoretical background is outlined. Many applications are given for this method in comparison to other direct optical detection methods; concentrating on a number of applications that have not yet been published. The capability of using this method in the area of high throughput screening of libraries and the application to combinatorial chemistry is demonstrated. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.