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Show THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH HONORS COLLEGE qPCR-COMPATIBLE SMALL-MOLECULE-DEPENDENT SPLIT APTAMER ASSAY Annika Pecchia-Bekkum (Jennifer Heemstra) Department of Chemistry University of Utah The purpose of this research is to create a split aptamer-based analogue to Proximity Ligation Assays for detection of small molecules in solution. Split aptamers are single stranded DNA molecules that will only assemble in the presence of a target molecule. Currently, our lab has pioneered the development of StAPL or Split Aptamer Proximity Ligation technology, in the detection of small molecules.1,2 Using split aptamer assembly to increase the effective molarity of reactive groups and promote a reaction, small molecule concentrations can be quantified through, for example, colorimetric techniques or polyacrylimide gel electrophoresis. 1,2 However, previous studies are limited due to the incompatibility of ligated backbones with PCR amplification techniques, thus rendering this approach to quantification unfeasible. The goal of our research is to create a sensitive small-molecule-dependent DNA split aptamer assay that would be compatible with qPCR amplification techniques, allowing for real time detection and quantification of small molecule targets. Annika Pecchia-Bekkum Jennifer Heemstra References: LSharma, A. K.; Heemstra, J. M. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 12426-12429. 2. Sharma, A. K.; Kent, D. A.; Heemstra, J. M. Anal. Chem. 2012, 84, 6104-6109. Francis Family Foundation Scholar 2012-2013 |