Abl inhibition on a wire

Recent technical advances for the rapid screening of small molecules against specific biological targets have greatly enhanced the drug discovery process. The continued development of new devices that can allow sensitive, label-free screening is important to both drug discovery and the elucidation of biological pathways. The role of protein kinases in cell-signaling events makes them attractive biological targets for the treatment of many diseases. In the 1 March issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Wang et al. report the label-free detection of a kinase (Abl) interaction with its natural ligand, ATP, and its competitive inhibition by Abl antagonists using a silicon nanowire (SiNW)-bound Abl nanosensor.