Superselective interactions
.png)
We develop a conceptual understanding of superselective recognition in biology, and deploy it for superselective targeting
Background
Superselectivity describes the ability of multivalent probes to discriminate surfaces by their comparative receptor densities. This type of binding is quite common in biology, however, it can also be exploited to target specific surfaces, cells and tissues of interest.
A universal driving force for superselective binding is combinatorial entropy. For probes with multiple ligands, the number of combinations in which one or more ligands can bind receptors increases very rapidly with the surface density of receptors. This purely entropic effect leads to a sharp onset of binding at a certain threshold receptor density.
Tools used within our superselectivity research
Click on each icon to learn more about the technique, and how it is used in our research
To analyse how molecules interact and self-organise on surfaces.
To make molecularly defined model cell surfaces
To quantify interaction kinetics and stoichiometries on model cell surfaces
To image probe binding to cells and model cell surfaces