Meeting review: a summary of the Label-Free Summit

'All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions.' Leonardo da Vinci Scientific progress is often enabled by the development of new tools and technologies that have given us new ways of perceiving the world. In the early days of our science, optical microscopy gave us the ability to observe cells for the first time and opened the new world of cell biology. More recently, advances in cloning and labeling technologies have permitted us to study the interactions of individual proteins. Now, label-free detection technology provides another promising advance--the means to generically study signal transduction in living cells through the dynamic mass redistribution (DMR) of intracellular contents. On October 6-7, 2008 a group of researchers gathered in Corning, NY to share recent advances in the field of label-free detection. Attendees came from nearby Ithaca, NY and as far away as Tokyo, Japan, representing a diverse set of institutions engaged in drug discovery research. Topics ranged from seven transmembrane receptor (7TMR) signaling, to high throughput screening and profiling, and to new applications such as ion channels and viral infection assays. Overall, the Label-Free Summit has given us additional perspective on the potential of this promising technology.