(a) Enzyme-linked lectin binding assay. Polymer is incubated with the lectin-HRP conjugate at varying concentrations. Free unbound Con-A-HRP adheres to a mannose-coated well plate, and the HRP developed to determine the fraction of Con-A bound to the polymer. b)–d) Binding curves for linear (b), 3 arm star (c), and 4 arm star (d) polymer series to ConA, showing the percentage of unbound lectin vs. polymer concentration. e) IC50 values extracted from the sigmoidal fit, normalised to mannose content showing the effect of size and structure on binding affinity. Error bars correspond to ±1 standard deviation from the mean in triplicate measurements. The IC50 for the linear and 4-arm polymers at DP 320 and 640 could not be determined as minimal inhibition was observed at the concentration range tested, but were found to be much greater than 2000 μm mannose.