An elegant strategy for detecting minuscule quantities of microRNA using just a single functionalised microbead could be an important innovation for biomedical research and molecular diagnostics.
Identifying biomolecules with vanishingly small copy numbers in cells is vital in deciphering the chemical blueprint for life. Homogeneous exponential amplification methods (such as the polymerase chain reaction), northern blotting, microarray detection and the isothermal exponential amplification reaction (EXPAR) are just some of the techniques that have undergone extensive tailoring to detect all manner of genetic material in cells as sensitively as possible. However, few approaches have even come close to reliably detecting nucleic acids at the single molecule level. Read the full article in Chemistry World»
Read the original journal article in Chemical Science – it’s open access:
Lab on a single microbead: an ultrasensitive detection strategy enabling microRNA analysis at the single-molecule level
Xiaobo Zhang, Chenghui Liu, Lingbo Sun, Xinrui Duan and Zhengping Li
Chem. Sci., 2015, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C5SC02641E, Edge Article
