Poster abstracts

Poster number 158 submitted by Austin Woodard

SPR-SELEX: New Method to Determine DNA Aptamers that Targets E. coli for Biosensor

Austin Woodard (Department of Chemistry, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville), Sun Jeong Im (Department of Chemistry, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville), Andrew Riley (Department of Chemistry, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville), Hailey Bowen (Department of Chemistry, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville), Mina Sumita (Department of Chemistry, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville)

Abstract:
Escherichia coli (E. coli) outbreaks pose serious health threats in the United States and across the globe today. These outbreaks are caused by pathogenic E. coli strains but could be prevented by detection of the harmful E. coli via a biosensor with a DNA aptamer. Using the systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) technique, the DNA aptamer sequence with a high affinity and specificity to the target E. coli strain K12 can be determined. However, the current SELEX procedure is time-consuming, and selection progress cannot be monitored in real time without radiolabeling. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) can resolve these disadvantages of the current SELEX technique by measuring the molecular binding kinetics in real-time without any labeling. In this project, we present the development of a faster and safer SELEX method combined with surface plasmon resonance (SPR-SELEX) to identify DNA aptamers. Furthermore, a consensus sequence generated from multiple DNA aptamer sequences that bind strongly to E. coli can be utilized in future studies of related biosensors.

Keywords: SPR-SELEX, DNA Aptamer, Biosensor