REceptor – LIgAnd Binding assay with luminescent Lanthanide nanoparticlEs detection – RELIABLE

The RELIABLE project aims at developing an alternative method of detection for receptor-ligand binding assays in drug discovery. This method relies on the utilisation of lanthanide nanoparticles (NPs) as luminescent probe for the detection of very low-concentrated labelled ligand by time-resolved photoluminescence. In the frame of saturation and competition assays, the ligand labelling will allow its specific detection by the functionalized NPs and its quantification by a simple NP emission measurement. The exceptional NP related brightness along with the time-resolved measurement allowing to suppress the background noise caused by biological environment related autofluorescence will assure a measure of high sensitivity. A proof-of-concept will be realized on two models of G-protein coupled receptors. This method is a simple and cheap alternative to the conventional methods.