Microscale thermophoresis device

University of Oulu, Biocenter Oulu, seeks a spectral shift and microscale thermophoresis device to characterise qualitatively and determine quantitatively nanoparticle, including protein, interactions in the range of weak to tight binders in solution without immobilization (hereinafter referred to as the "device"). The device must enable the assessment of sample quality and aggregation and differentiating binding events from aggregation. The device will be used for analysis of interactions of fluorescence labelled proteins with small molecules and vesicles. The detection must be independent of the mass ratio of the binding partners. The device must enable fast screening of interactions as well as sensitive affinity measurement. The measurable dynamic range of dissociation constant must be at least in nM -mM range and binding affinity in at least nM -mM range. Low sample consumption (in order of 10 microlitre) and low nanomole of the labeled target is needed for the measurement. The device must enable detection of the interaction based on changes of emission spectrum of exited fluorophore under isothermal conditions and must be able to create a microscopic non-isothermal temperature field (temperature gradient) and determine nanoparticle including protein binding events based on the temperature related intensity change and fluorescence intensity change following thermophoresis under the thermal gradient. Intensity changes and/or spectrum shifts of the fluorescence probe versus ligand concentrations are measured and plotted to calculate the dissociation constant. The device must come with detailed documentation of all features. The device will be part of the Proteomics and protein analysis core facility infrastructure of Biocenter Oulu. The core facility has an open access policy, and the instrumentation and software must be easy to use and maintain. The device must include a user interface to control the operation. The device must be well suited to an academic multi-user environment. The contracting entity has a maximum sum of 189000 € (excluding value-added tax) available for the procurement and cannot accept tenders exceeding this amount. The procurement is partially funded by the European Regional Development Funds (ERDF), BioParts project (A81573).