Equilibrium constant assay design

Because of the nature of the chip surface, BIA is a heterophasic technique like the GEMSA and filter binding assays discussed in the previous section. There have been careful analyses made of the potential effect of artefacts arising from the heterophasic nature of the chip, such as steric hindrance and mass transport effects, on the absolute values of rate and thermodynamic parameters (Schuck 1997). The conclusion appears to be that relative values of parameters, particularly equilibrium constants, obtained by this approach can be viewed with confidence, but careful experimental design is needed to determine reliable absolute values (Myska 2000). 

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