The Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning/McGill University

Published purpose

Aptamers have been proven as versatile molecular recognition elements, possessing specificity and selectivity comparable to that of antibodies, with additional unique properties: their synthesis is simpler, readily scalable, and less expensive; the can be designed to incorporate a variety of chemical modification; and they are much more stable than antibodies. The current gold standard of aptamer discovery is conducted through Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment (SELEX), which is very time and resource consuming, To remedy the shortcomings associated with this technique, the objective of this project is to develop a novel method for aptamer discovery. The team proposes to combine the oligonucleotide library design with the magnetic nanoparticles in concert with microfluidic surface plasmon resonance imaging biosensor capable of delivering one-step aptamer selection and validation technology. This proposed aptamer discovery method is both novel and has many advantages over the existing technologies. It significantly improves our ability to select high affinity and specificity aptamer akin to antibody counterparts and increases the applicability of the technology for the assays such as ELISA and immunoPCR.