Analyzing Protein Denaturation using Fast Differential Scanning Calorimetry

Abstract

This paper investigates the possibility to measure protein denaturation with Fast Differential Scanning Calorimetry (FDSC). Cancer can be diagnosed by measuring protein denaturation in blood plasma using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). FDSC can reduce diagnosis time from hours to minutes, requiring significantly smaller sample quantities. To show the feasibility of measuring protein denaturation with FDSC, protein denaturation in human hair is measured. We have been able to observe the phenomena of water evaporation and pyrolysis as they were measured in hair by DSC, however, the protein denaturation peaks are largely obscured by the water evaporation and pyrolysis phenomena, as the current set up only allows dry measurements.