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Updated: Oct 9, 2026

Isothermal Titration Calorimetry for Measuring Macromolecule-Ligand Affinity
Published on: September 7, 2011
Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC): a standard operating procedure (SOP)
Margarida Bastos1, Adrian Velazquez-Campoy2,3,4,5
1CIQ-UP, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal. mbastos@fc.up.pt.
Abstract:
Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) is currently widely used in many applied areas of research, spanning protein-ligand binding, metal-ligand interactions, DNA/DNA or protein/DNA interactions, partition to membranes, and polymer surfactant interactions, to mention just a few. This is due to the availability of commercial instruments, and thus the production and spread of an accepted and widely followed SOP is felt by most users, in an effort to produce results that are scientifically correct and comparable. Therefore, within the efforts of Working Group 4 of the ARBRE-MOBIEU COST Action (CA15126), this ITC SOP was generated, alongside SOPs for several other biophysical techniques. Here, we discuss the factors that are fundamental for good experimental design and that need to be carefully considered, as well as machine calibration, in particular chemical calibration, linked to another outcome of Working Group 4 on ITC benchmarking, to be also published in this Special Issue.
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