Technology
What are Aptamers?
Aptamers are single-stranded nucleic acids (ssDNA and RNA) of short length, selected from a large random sequence pool (Szostak et al 1990) that, depending on the sequence and environmental conditions, adopt defined three-dimensional structures, which enables them to bind stably and highly specific for their targets, ranging from small molecules to complex multimeric structures.
Relatively easy and reproducible production and labelling, cost-effectiveness and stability during long-term storage, aptamers technology is an innovative alternative and much less known than that of monoclonal antibodies.
Aptamers can be produced by chemical synthesis (high accuracy, reproducibility, labelling, chemical modifications).
Aptamers can be delivered into cells.
Denatured aptamers can be regenerated easily within minutes.
Aptamers features comparable to those observed for antibodies
