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Functionalized Aptamers For Detection Of Small-Molecule Targets, Haixiang Yu
Functionalized Aptamers For Detection Of Small-Molecule Targets, Haixiang Yu
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Aptamers have recently gained considerable attention for small-molecule detection in diverse applications such as drug identification, medical diagnostics, and environmental monitoring. However, the performance of aptamer-based sensors has been greatly limited by the low target affinity and responsiveness of small-molecule binding aptamers. This dissertation describes several novel aptamer engineering and isolation strategies to remedy this problem. Specifically, we first develop a generally applicable strategy to engineer split aptamers containing two binding domains termed cooperative-binding split aptamers (CBSAs). CBSAs exhibit higher target binding affinity and are far more responsive in terms of target-induced split aptamer assembly compared to single-domain parent split …