Toward in situ biochemistry: combining chemical kinetics approaches with biomolecular imaging in living cells

Our knowledge of protein-protein interactions comes primarily from experimentation with reconstituted proteins in dilute solutions. However, dilute solutions are poor approximations of the intracellular microenvironment, which contains exquisite and dynamic structure that is impossible to recreate inside test tubes. New approaches are needed that will allow the in situ characterization of protein-protein interactions inside living, intact cells. In this paper, we discuss recent efforts to measure the kinetics of protein binding within complexes inside living cells. While the experimental effort in these studies requires the confluence of techniques ranging from molecular imaging to cell and molecular biology, the experimental design and analysis requires a strong background in chemical kinetics and transport phenomena. Thus, we argue that chemical engineers can play a central role in furthering in situ approaches to cellular analysis. Such efforts may aid significantly in advancing quantitative knowledge of cellular signaling and physiology.