Apatawhat?6 May 2020 14:53
What are Aptamers
These are synthetic short DNA sequences which have a special shape so they have the ability to fold into or around the complex surfaces of a target (in this case covid). This means that it is possible to select aptamers against almost any given target, with exquisite specificity.
Who or what is the Aptamer group?
Aptamer Group Ltd. is a world-leading provider of bespoke nucleic acid aptamer selection and development services. They have utilised their many years of experience, cutting edge approach and liquid handling platforms, to deliver aptamer based solutions for a wide variety of needs with pharmaceutical, biotechnology and diagnostic customers; as well as academic and research institutions across the globe.
Have they found the correct Aptamer?
Short answer nearly, they have found the basic formula as it were so now just need to define. Or in their words “Our current polyclonal aptamer population shows high affinity binding (16.8nM) to the S1 subunit and RBD domain of the SARS-CoV-2 (2019-nCoV) Spike protein. The polyclonal aptamer populations (which potentially contain many hundreds of aptamer sequences) will undergo further work to isolate individual high affinity clones, with results expected very soon.”