Preface
We are very pleased to present the current volume of the series Advances in
Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology entitled “Aptamers in Biotechnology.”
In 1990, Professors Larry Gold and Craig Tuerk developed the SELEX process
and discovered that nucleic acids could be used as ligands specifically binding to
proteins. Simultaneously and independently, these protein binding nucleic acids
were discovered by Andy Ellington and Jack Szostak, who termed this new class
of oligonucleotides “aptamers.” In the early years of aptamer research, most efforts
were focused on the exploitation of aptamers in the medical field. In 2004, this
resulted in Macugen, the first FDA-approved aptamer-based drug, for the treatment
of macular degeneration.
Nonetheless, the favorable properties of aptamers, such as simple and economic
large-scale production, high stability, and switchable structural changes made them
also ideal candidates for applications outside of therapeutics.
Today, 30 years after the discovery of SELEX, aptamers have penetrated almost
all areas of biotechnological research, ranging from classical biotechnological
approaches such as biosensing, to modern red biotechnology, where aptamers can
be used for the development of targeted treatment strategies.
This book attempts to cover this broad range of applications. Since the selection
of aptamers is intensively reviewed elsewhere, this book starts with a chapter on the
characterization of aptamers, as a thorough characterization is the basis for each
successful application.
Within the next chapters, the use of aptamers in biosensing is described exemplarily for impedimetric aptamer-based biosensors, where the underlying principles
are described and the broad variety of possible applications are elaborated. Besides
biosensing, the affinity separation of proteins is another classical field of biotechnology that can profit from the use of aptamers and is thus represented as a chapter in
this book. Finally, diverse medical applications are summarized, including the use of
aptamers in diagnostics and targeted therapies.
v
We are very pleased to present the current volume of the series Advances in
Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology entitled “Aptamers in Biotechnology.”
In 1990, Professors Larry Gold and Craig Tuerk developed the SELEX process
and discovered that nucleic acids could be used as ligands specifically binding to
proteins. Simultaneously and independently, these protein binding nucleic acids
were discovered by Andy Ellington and Jack Szostak, who termed this new class
of oligonucleotides “aptamers.” In the early years of aptamer research, most efforts
were focused on the exploitation of aptamers in the medical field. In 2004, this
resulted in Macugen, the first FDA-approved aptamer-based drug, for the treatment
of macular degeneration.
Nonetheless, the favorable properties of aptamers, such as simple and economic
large-scale production, high stability, and switchable structural changes made them
also ideal candidates for applications outside of therapeutics.
Today, 30 years after the discovery of SELEX, aptamers have penetrated almost
all areas of biotechnological research, ranging from classical biotechnological
approaches such as biosensing, to modern red biotechnology, where aptamers can
be used for the development of targeted treatment strategies.
This book attempts to cover this broad range of applications. Since the selection
of aptamers is intensively reviewed elsewhere, this book starts with a chapter on the
characterization of aptamers, as a thorough characterization is the basis for each
successful application.
Within the next chapters, the use of aptamers in biosensing is described exemplarily for impedimetric aptamer-based biosensors, where the underlying principles
are described and the broad variety of possible applications are elaborated. Besides
biosensing, the affinity separation of proteins is another classical field of biotechnology that can profit from the use of aptamers and is thus represented as a chapter in
this book. Finally, diverse medical applications are summarized, including the use of
aptamers in diagnostics and targeted therapies.
v