Register Now! 

Steroid hormones are a family of small hydrophobic analytes derived from cholesterol that have been the targets of many clinical assays from a variety of bodily fluids and at very low concentrations. For example, progesterone (MW-314 Da) sensitive detection in diverse matrices can assist in fertility investigations. We developed an aptamer specific to progesterone using the X-Aptamer Selection Kit from AM Biotechnologies as immunoassays suffer from a lack of specificity due to high levels of interference arising from structural similarities between different steroid hormones. The proposed biosensor combines X-Aptamer technology with nanoEnhancers (NIR Quantum Dots) and Surface Plasmon Resonance imaging (SPRi) to achieve a limit of detection of 1 nM.

During this webinar, you will learn how the combination of the X-Aptamer Selection Kit from AM Biotechnologies with HORIBA's SPRi system allows you to develop and screen aptamers from small molecules in a short period of time. In addition, we will review in detail the construct of the SPRi based NanoAptasensor, which allows you to analyze in a label-free and real time manner ultra-sensitively and selectively hormones like progesterone. 

Key Learning Objectives

• Understand the key differences between aptamers and antibodies
• Learn how the X-Aptamer Selection Kit works to identify aptamers for your desired targets
• Explore the advantages for SPRi in screening aptamers against your target and determining the best binding partner
• Discover how the combination of X-Aptamers and SPRi open up new avenues for detecting a wide range of analytes
• Learn how to construct a sandwich-based assay for the ultrasensitive detection of small molecules using SPRi

Who Should Attend?

• Academic and industrial researchers working with and developing bioassays for a wide range of analytes
• Scientists specializing or have expertise in the following fields: biomedical and clinical science, proteomics, genomics, biochemistry, nanotechnology and biophysics

Presenter

Dr Curtis Lam, Scientist at AM Biotechnologies

Curtis has over 10 years of experience in the field of nucleic acid chemistry. His research has been primarily centered around the addition of modifications to nucleic acids that increase the chemical functionality of entities that include aptamers, DNAzymes and ribozymes. At AM Biotechnologies, Curtis has integrated several amino acid side chain modifications into AM's bead-based selection process that have had a dramatic effect on the outcome of X-Aptamer generation against desired targets. He is currently involved in all aspects of X-Aptamer library generation and X-Aptamer synthesis and is the lead scientist for the development/optimization of the X-Aptamer Selection Kit. Curtis received a batchlor's degree in both biochemistry and chemistry and a Ph.D. in biological chemistry from the University of British Columbia, Canada.

Moderators

Dr Chiraz Frydman, SPRi Product Manager at HORIBA Scientific

Dr Marinella Sandros, Business Development Manager for Life Sciences at HORIBA Scientific