Riboswitch sensors to detect clinical biomarkers

This technology is a set of riboswitch sequences tailored to sense creatine, urea, potassium, lithium, and sodium.

Unmet Need: Real-time monitoring of drug elimination for patients with acute kidney injury

Sepsis is the leading cause of acute kidney injury (AKI) in hospitals, resulting in a mortality rate of >60%. A method is needed to appropriately dose medications, including life-saving antibiotics, in patients with renal damage and relatedly highly variable drug clearance rates.

The Technology: Electrochemical aptamer-based sensors to monitor drug elimination

This technology comprises a set of riboswitch aptamer sequences designed to sense creatine, urea, potassium, lithium, and sodium, for use in electrochemical aptamer-based sensors for monitoring drug elimination during continuous renal replacement therapy. This system provides real-time information on extracorporeal clearance, enabling clinicians to make immediate, informed adjustments to antibiotic dosing.

Applications:

• Monitoring of drug elimination in patients with renal damage
• Detection of metabolic biomarkers for screening, diagnosis, and monitoring
• Precision medicine tool to tailor treatments based on individual metabolic profiles
• Drug screening

Advantages:

• Real-time drug monitoring
• Enables rapid, personalized adjustment of antibiotic dosage
• Multi-target detection of off-target metabolic effects or accumulation of toxic intermediates

Lead Inventor:

Milan Stojanovic, Ph.D.

Patent Information:

Patent Pending

Related Publications:

• Nakatsuka N, Yang KA, Abendroth JM, Cheung KM, Xu X, Yang H, Zhao C, Zhu B, Rim YS, Yang Y, Weiss PS, Stojanović MN, Andrews AM. “Aptamer-field-effect transistors overcome Debye length limitations for small-molecule sensing.” Science. 2018 Oct 19;362(6412):319-324.

Tech Ventures Reference:

• IR CU25097

• Licensing Contact: Jerry Kokoshka