During our long history, Creative Biolabs develops and commercializes a full range of integrated platforms and innovative services based on aptamer screening. Our microfluidic chip-based SELEX technology platform can solve the low efficiency and other problems encountered in current aptamer screening, providing a new idea to achieve rapid and high-throughput in vitro screening of aptamers. We also provide in-house access to qualified aptamers and the Microfluidic SELEX technology platform to assist our customers in their research and project development.
The development of aptamers is closely related to the advancement of screening technologies. Researchers have made various improvements to the traditional screening technology based on the key technical points of SELEX. However, SELEX technology still has problems such as many screening rounds, long screening cycle, large library synthesis, low utilization rate and high sample consumption. Microfluidic chip has the characteristics of small size, high throughput and easy integration, and SELEX technology based on microfluidic chip can solve the above problems to a certain extent and provide a new idea to achieve rapid and high-throughput in vitro screening of aptamers.
Fig 1. Microfluidic SELEX process diagram [1].
Microfluidic chip, also known as micro-total analysis system, can integrate the basic operation units of sample preparation, reaction, separation and detection of the analysis process on a microstructure unit through microfabrication technology to automatically complete the whole process of analysis on a micron-scale chip.
Currently, microfluidics shows great potential in the fields of biology, chemistry and medicine. Microfluidic chip technology also has been widely used in cell culture, gene amplification and analysis, and protein detection.
The first microfluidic technology introduced in the SELEX screening technology is capillary electrophoresis (CE) SELEX, which separates the components of a mixture according to their electrophoretic migration rate. The combination of microfluidic chip and SELEX technology greatly reduces the screening cost and improves the speed and accuracy of analysis.
At present, the developed microfluidic chip SELEX technology mainly includes magnetic bead method and sol-gel method, etc.
The magnetic bead-based microfluidic SELEX technology mainly includes Continuous-flow magnetic activated chip-based separation system and Micro magnet separation system.
Fig 2. Schematic illustration of the SELEX processes in magnetic-bead-based microfluidic chips [2].
In sol-gel based microfluidic SELEX technology, target molecules are encapsulated in silicate hydrogels with porous nanostructures, and oligonucleotides enter the nanopores to bind to the target molecules.
Fig 3. Schematic illustration of the SELEX processes in sol-gel microfluidic chips [2].
Microfluidic devices and systems have used aptamers in a wide variety of biomedical applications such as cell-based assays, molecular diagnostics, immunoassays, and biochemical assays. It is expected that these microfluidic devices and systems may soon provide fast and accurate clinical analysis through adaptor-based sensors. Most importantly, point-of-care devices and analytical systems may eventually become feasible in the near future.
Creative Biolabs is a leading global aptamer development company. After more than a decade of exploration and expansion, we have demonstrated solid expertise and capabilities in biotechnology and have expanded our research and service capabilities to include all areas of aptamer development.
Our commitment to this long-term goal has driven us to provide the highest quality services to our customers in order to further advance the biotechnology/pharmaceutical industry. If you are interested in this service, please contact us for more details.
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