Currently, scientists and physicians utilize glycoprotein antibodies for the isolation of cells for research, diagnostics, and therapeutic applications. This technique, however, typically requires numerous cell sorting cycles and multiple antibodies. This technology instead utilizes aptamers, high affinity oligonucleotides, to isolate cells and subcellular bodies with high selection affinity. Additionally, this technology is capable of screening for multiple surface markers in a single step, eliminating the need for multiple selection cycles and surface tags. With these features, this system is able to improve cell sorting efficiency, and could serve as a powerful tool for disease research, diagnostics, and treatment.
This technology is capable of reducing the amount of sample, time, and resources required for cell isolation. By combining the selection of multiple surface markers into a single step, this reduces the number of tags necessary to isolate target cells and minimizes the loss of cells associated with multiple selection cycles. Further, the aptamers utilized by this technology can be optimized during synthesis, to improve selection affinity for the target cell type or subcellular component. Following binding to targets, it is also possible for this technology to provide cell-targeted pharmacological. By combining these features, this system may serve as a valuable tool for cell- and organelle-based diagnostics and therapeutics.
This technology has been tested for the isolation of activated T-cells for autoimmune disease detection and monitoring, as well as for the selection of exosomes, possible subcellular markers for disease.
Patents Pending
Tech Ventures Reference: IR CU12229, IR CU15021, IR CU15072