Immunohistochemistry has helped to make surgical pathology the ‘gold standard’ for tumour diagnosis. Antibodies have been used extensively as the molecular probes; however, there have been issues with their specificity, which is the most critical determining factor in IHC.
Previous reports have suggested that 40-50 % of diagnostic inconsistencies are related to poor antibody selection, cross […]
Antibiotics have been widely used in human medicine, aquaculture and agriculture to treat serious infectious diseases. However, overuse and misuse of antibiotics in some areas have contributed to the residues of antibiotic contaminants in water bodies and food products such as meat and dairy. This misuse has resulted in generation of super bacteria with tolerance […]
1st August 2018
Scientists from the Technical University of Denmark, led by Krishna Kant have published a new review in Biotechnology Advances including aptamer-based approaches for the rapid detection of food-borne pathogens.
Food borne diseases, caused by the consumption of foods contaminated with pathogens or their toxins, are one of the major burdens to public health, causing […]
22nd June 2018
Introduction:
Changes in hormone levels can be key indicators to a variety of issues, examples include testosterone levels in general health and well being(1) and diagnosing Cushing’s disease involving the steroid cortisol (2). While these small molecules and others are well documented and their role in health and disease is becoming better understood, researchers […]
18th May 2018.
Traditionally small molecules, such as antibiotics, have been difficult targets for ELISA development. Aptamer Group has selected aptamers that bind to small molecules, previously inaccessible to other binding technologies. Utilising our state-of-the-art automation and parallel processing techniques, we can select high affinity and highly specific aptamers against small molecule targets, in solution. These […]
12th September, 2017
Aptamer Applications: Using Aptamers in Lateral Flow Assays
There is a growing need for easy to use, point of care tests. A technology where aptamers can be used to achieve this is in lateral flow assays. A lateral flow assay is a method of detecting the presence (or absence) of an analyte without complicated […]
22nd August, 2017.
Biomarker Discovery
A biomarker is a measurable indicator showing the presence or severity of a disease state. Using biomarkers to differentiate between healthy and diseased cells can enable the development of specific diagnostics, research tools and targeted therapeutics.
Biomarker Discovery using Aptamers
Traditional biomarker discovery is a long process and relies on multiple comparisons using various […]
1st August, 2017.
Flow Cytometry
Flow Cytometry is a technique used to identify biomarkers on cell surfaces and intracellular molecules. Most flow cytometers use fluorescently labelled antibodies to differentiate between cells expressing different markers.
Initially the cell sample is suspended, stained with a fluorescent label and washed to remove any non-specific binding. The suspension is introduced into the […]
25th July, 2017
AptaBlot – increasing the utility of Western Blotting
Western Blotting is a powerful technique used to detect and identify proteins. Antibodies have traditionally been used as the detection molecule, but aptamers are now emerging to complement or address shortfalls of existing reagents.
Basis of the Western Blot
The first step of a Western blot uses electrophoresis […]
11th July, 2017
Last week we began to discuss how aptamers can be used in biosensors. If you missed this, you can read it here.
Today we outline two more strategies for utilising aptamers in biosensors.
Target Induced Displacement Mode
Target Induced Displacement (TID) mode uses an aptamer anchored via a complementary oligo, localising the target binding aptamer. When […]
