Establishing a new lab? A conversation with Dr. Nikolaos Louros

Building a New Lab with FIDA: A Conversation with Dr. Nikolaos Louros

Starting a new academic lab is both a challenge and an opportunity. For Dr. Nikolaos Louros, professor of biophysics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, that challenge included making strategic choices about which technologies would set the foundation for future research. One of those key choices was FIDA.

We spoke with Dr. Louros about his experience integrating FIDA into his newly established lab, why it stood out among other options, and how it has helped accelerate impactful research.

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“An Obvious Choice” for New Labs

As a new principal investigator, Dr. Louros faced the typical constraints: limited resources, ambitious plans, and a need to generate high-quality data quickly.

“It would be very frustrating,” he says, “if you have all of these interesting things you’re planning to do, and you simply don’t have the practical capacity to do them. So FIDA was exactly the reason why I wanted to include it in the lab. I think it's an excellent resource for newly established labs because it's a very versatile instrument.”

FIDA, he explains, offered a unique combination of versatility, ease of use, and low operational costs.

“It was the easiest choice (...) You can work with different types of molecules, proteins, nucleic acids, even small molecules, which are challenging for other instruments.”

Supporting Advanced Research on Aggregates and Amyloid Fibrils

One of the key research areas in Dr. Louros’s lab is amyloid polymorphism, it is the ability of a single protein to form different aggregate structures, which are associated with distinct disease forms. To investigate this, the team uses a hybrid workflow that combines computational protein design with experimental validation. Using AI-based tools, they create new protein sequences intended to shift aggregation behavior. These constructs are expressed in the lab, and FIDA is used to measure hydrodynamic radius as an initial readout to assess whether the designed proteins behave as expected. This approach enables the team to quickly determine whether their computational predictions translate into real structural differences, which supports ongoing efforts to understand disease mechanisms and develop targeted binders.

''Having the ability to measure hydrodynamic radius, for instance, is a very quick first step to measure and see if what we designed computationally actually folds the way that we expect it to in our experiments.''

Small Molecules, Large Aggregates, and the Power of Sensitivity

Dr. Louros points out that traditional techniques often struggle to detect binding between very small and very large molecules, like peptide binders and amyloid aggregates. FIDA, on the other hand, offers the sensitivity needed to detect subtle changes in complex systems.

“Whereas FIDA has a very high sensitivity, can provide you changes close to the nanometer level for binding interactions.”

Binding Kinetics and Complex Sample Analysis

Dr. Louros and his team use FIDA to analyze binding kinetics, both for their own peptide binders and in collaboration with other labs developing antibodies and nanobodies.

“Of course we have also used the kinetics approach... we’re also collaborating with other labs, both here at UT Southwestern and outside, who have also developed specific antibodies or nanobodies... So we very frequently use the kinetics module for those kinds of applications, which is very important.”

The team is also applying FIDA in more challenging environments, including complex biological matrices, as part of their diagnostic research.

“Some of these binders that we are developing in the library, [we’re] trying to see if they have any potential diagnostic potential against patient samples. For instance, you know, extracts from patients directly, which are in complex solutions pretty much.”

When asked what types of raw samples they work with, Dr. Louros added:

“We've tried from brain extracts, from various other liquids like plasma or serum and so on. We've tried CSS in certain cases, just some of the samples that we have tried.”

Practicality Matters in a New Lab

In a newly established lab, assay development and onboarding new users can be a significant time sink. Dr. Louros emphasizes that FIDA made this transition much smoother.

“It's super easy to use,which is again a big benefit for a new lab because you have new people, You also have to be involved yourself, You're more actually hands on, involved in these kind of experiments and those steps. So it helps a lot to have a system that can be easily shown and, you know, taught to new people and then they can pick it up and use it themselves very quickly.”

One such direction his team is exploring is real-time or near-native binding in complex matrices, stretching the instrument into new areas and applications.

A Platform That Encourages Collaboration

Finally, FIDA has also helped build bridges.

“I should also mention this is probably another reason why FIDA would be an attractive thing to add in a new lab because it helps with setting up a lot of external collaborators that have an interest in using it. It's a very easy and quick to use instrument. So that's why it has an appeal to externals.''

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Read more about using FIDA for:
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Amyloid fibrils: https://www.fidabio.com/amyloid-fibrils

Aggregation: https://www.fidabio.com/readouts/aggregation

Binding kinetics: https://www.fidabio.com/readouts/kinetics

Binding affinity: https://www.fidabio.com/readouts/affinity