SBS Seminar Series 2015 - Justin Hodgkiss

SBS Seminar Series 2015 - Justin Hodgkiss

Date: 20 October 2015 Time: 12.00 pm

 

Dr Justin Hodgkiss

SCPS, MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology

Sex, drugs, and DNA: versatile biosensors exploiting DNA aptamer receptors

Biosensors require receptors that selectively recognise a target amongst complex mixtures to produce a binding signal. Through collaboration with researchers in the School of Biological Sciences at VUW, we have recently created biosensors using a class of receptors called DNA aptamers. These ‘synthetic antibodies’ exploit an in vitro synthetic evolution process to find sequences of single-stranded DNA with high affinity for the target. Possible targets range from cells, to proteins, molecules, and even ions. Once sequences are identified, aptamers can be synthesized and coupled to nanomaterial surfaces to engineer different kinds of sensor responses.

This talk will focus on chemical and electrical sensors using an aptamer for the sex hormone 17β-‐estradiol (E2), that enables E2 quantitation from femtomolar to micromolar concentrations. The simple and effective sensors described are being expanded to other aptamers and may be used for environmental monitoring and in biomedical applications.

For more information, please contact Dr Melanie McConnell on Melanie.McConnell@vuw.ac.nz