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