title: Aptasensors--the future of biosensing?
abstract: Aptamers are artificial nucleic acid ligands that can be generated against amino acids, drugs, proteins and other molecules. They are isolated from combinatorial libraries of synthetic nucleic acid by an iterative process of adsorption, recovery and reamplification. Aptamers, first reported in 1990, are attracting interest in the areas of therapeutics and diagnostics and offer themselves as ideal candidates for use as biocomponents in biosensors (aptasensors), possessing many advantages over state of the art affinity sensors. The properties of aptamers, their applicability to biosensor technology, current research and future prospects are addressed in this short review.
authors.affiliation: Bioelectrochemistry and Bioengineering Group, School of Chemical Engineering, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain. ckosulli@etse.urv.es
authors.forename: Ciara K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: O'Sullivan
mesh_terms: D000906:Antibodies / Q000032:analysis; D000941:Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D001665:Binding Sites; D004798:Enzymes; D016650:Fluorescein-5-isothiocyanate; D015696:Gene Products, tat / Q000032:analysis; D015497:HIV-1; D015498:HIV-2; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D012313:RNA / Q000032:analysis; D014118:Toxins, Biological / Q000032:analysis; D054322:tat Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D000941:Antigens; D004798:Enzymes; D015696:Gene Products, tat; D014118:Toxins, Biological; D054322:tat Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus; D012313:RNA; D016650:Fluorescein-5-isothiocyanate