Guwahati, Assam based BioAptagen Laboratories believe that correct diagnosis available at right time and right place can provide an ailing patient a gift of life. Aptamers have emerged as potential rivals to antibodies in recent decades given their several merits including low production cost, high stability and no limitations on their targets. They are developing diagnostic kits using evolved DNA and peptide Aptamers which can detect and bind pathogens/surface proteins/disease cells in biological fluids. They generate DNA and peptide Aptamers using two well-established techniques, SELEX (Selective Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment) and Phage Display Technology (Biopanning) respectively. Presently we use bacterial pathogens as our targets for evolution of Aptamers. Aptamers have definitely several merits over existing conventional antibody based diagnostics such as Aptamers generated by either by cell-SELEX or biopanning, do not require any prior knowledge of the protein targets on cell surface facilitating the development of aptamer-guided diagnostics; Aptamers are highly specific and bind to their target with high affinity; Aptamers are thermodynamically stable and unlike antibodies, they are stable at room temperature.
