Isothermal Titration Microcalorimetry

Isothermal microcalorimetry is the generic term for a range of versatile and, in principle, nondestructive techniques suitable for direct measurement of the energetics of biological processes in samples ranging from homogeneous macromolecules up to complex and heterogeneous systems, including intact organisms (1 –6 ). We shall concentrate here on the use of calorimetry in the titration mode (7 –10 ) to study the thermodynamics of ligand binding to macromolecules and related processes, since this is central to current efforts to understand the fundamental basis of macromolecular recognition processes and their applications in biotechnology.