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Updated: May 13, 2026

Assaying Protein Kinase Activity with Radiolabeled ATP
Published on: May 26, 2017
Measuring the tyrosine kinase activity: a review of biochemical and cellular assay technologies
Yong Jia1, Xiang-Ju Gu, Achim Brinker
1Group Leader Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, Department of Kinase Biology, 10675 John J. Hopkins Dr, San Diego, CA 92121, USA +1 858 812 1728 ; +1 858 812 1918 ; yjia@gnf.org.
Background:
The increasing number of kinases as potential drug targets, in combination with the need to screen large compound collections, demands the kinase assays to be homogeneous, non-radioactive, robust, sensitive, easy to miniaturize, and high-throughput.
Objective:
This review will focus on some of the chief biochemical and cellular kinase assay technologies and their applications in tyrosine kinase drug discovery.
Methods:
Recent literatures on these tyrosine kinase assay technologies are reviewed, each assay principle, advantages and drawbacks, as well as their potential utilities in tyrosine kinase drug discovery are discussed.
Results/Conclusion:
There is no perfect assay yet; the choice of assay technology relies on the consideration of many factors including the intrinsic properties of the assay, intended application, cost, timeline, synergy with other in-house assay technologies and the expertise, familiarity and comfort level with certain technologies.

