Single-nucleotide-resolution genomic maps of O6-methylguanine from the glioblastoma drug temozolomide.

Temozolomide kills cancer cells by forming O6-methylguanine (O6-MeG), which leads to cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. However, O6-MeG repair by O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) contributes to drug resistance. Characterizing genomic profiles of O6-MeG could elucidate how O6-MeG accumulation is influenced by repair, but there are no methods to map genomic locations of O6-MeG.

Aptamer-Functionalized Interface Nanopores Enable Amino Acid-Specific Peptide Detection.

Single-molecule proteomics based on nanopore technology has made significant advances in recent years. However, to achieve nanopore sensing with single amino acid resolution, several bottlenecks must be tackled: controlling nanopore sizes with nanoscale precision and slowing molecular translocation events. Herein, we address these challenges by integrating amino acid-specific DNA aptamers into interface nanopores with dynamically tunable pore sizes.

Aptamer-modified biosensors to visualize neurotransmitter flux.

Chemical biosensors with the capacity to continuously monitor various neurotransmitter dynamics can be powerful tools to understand complex signaling pathways in the brain. However, in vivo detection of neurochemicals is challenging for many reasons such as the rapid release and clearance of neurotransmitters in the extracellular space, or the low target analyte concentrations in a sea of interfering biomolecules. Biosensing platforms with adequate spatiotemporal resolution coupled to specific and selective receptors termed aptamers, demonstrate high potential to tackle such challenges.

Biosynthesis of Glycoconjugate Virus-like Particles (VLPs).

The outermost surface of bacterial pathogens consists primarily of complex carbohydrate structures-polysaccharides, glycolipids, and glycoproteins. To raise a long-lasting and effective immune response against carbohydrate antigens, they generally require covalent attachment to an immunogenic carrier protein-a so-called glycoconjugate vaccine. One hurdle to the development of glycoconjugate vaccines is that carbohydrate antigens remain inaccessible to recombinant production.