Aptamer selection

We have the facilities and expertise to generate oligonucleotide aptamers that can be used instead of antibodies as detection probes for specific and sensitive detection of analytes.

Analyte-specific aptamers are selected from a library containing a diverse pool of oligonucleotides (>10⁵ variants). The technique is called systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX).

Advantages of aptamers over antibodies:

Aptamers are 10-100 times smaller than antibodies, and due to their small size, they can be arranged with a high density on the biosensor surface, thereby increasing assay sensitivity
They are known to have strong binding affinity and specificity towards the representative analyte with dissociation constants in the nM to sub-nM range
They can be chemically modified after selection to enhance binding kinetics
As they are synthetic molecules they can be generated against any target, including non-immunogenic and toxic substances
Since they are generated in vitro they do not require immunization of animals and once they have been identified they are cheap and fast to produce

We offer to:

Design, produce and test binding characteristics of oligonucleotide aptamers against specific analytes, e.g. biomarkers
Use the aptamers for developing point-of-care devices or high-throughput laboratory based analyses