Mathematical Biology Seminar Alex Chagovetz, Electrical Engineering, University of Utah Wednesday November 1, 2006 3:05pm in LCB 215 "Modeling of competitive capture of DNA on biosensors" We present a diffusion-kinetic model of multiple DNA species interacting with the surface of biosensors (oligonucleotide probes). Competition for binding sites results in displacement of low affinity species by high affinity species in the transient regime. This mechanism helps to explain origins of specificity of molecular recognition and defines dynamic range of specific recognition as a function of time. Non-linear effects of transient multi-species capture can be used for quantitation of specific targets in the sample without using tags (tagless detection). Experimental results confirm theoretical predictions and justify the need for real-time signal acquisition in order to convert DNA microarrays into the tool for quantitative analysis.