Aptamer-Based Biosensors

Dear Colleagues,

Aptamers are isolated from combinatorial libraries of nucleic acids by iterative rounds of selection and an amplification process for binding to a specific ligand. Since the inception of the aptamer selection methodology nearly three decades ago, several high-affinity and specific aptamers were reported against a wide range of targets, including simple ions, small molecules, peptides, proteins, organelles, viruses, and whole cells. Although the aptamers compared with antibodies and even referred as “rivals” to antibodies, the aptamers have several advantages over antibodies such as being smaller in size, easier to synthesize, higher stability, several modifications can be incorporated, no batch-to-batch variations. Previously, several aptamers were compared with antibodies on different bio-sensing platforms for binding to several biomarkers and ligands. These studies revealed that the aptamers displayed superiority in terms of sensitivity and discriminating ability especially towards closely related ligands. Considering these advantages aptamers are rapidly being adopted in various fields which are not only limited to therapeutics, medical diagnosis but also in imaging, food safety, and environmental monitoring.

This Special Issue of Biomolecules is dedicated to aptamer-based sensing platforms for the detection of a wide range of ligand analysis focusing on the new platforms, sensitivity, and rapid analyses. We welcome both original articles and review articles that cover state-of-the-art in this rapidly developing area.

Dr. Penmetcha Kumar
Guest Editor

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