Electrophoresis- Driven Lateral Flow Immunoassay and Aptamer Selection

Electrophoresis has become an indispensable tool in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, essential for analyzing proteins and nucleic acids. My work focuses on new bioanalytical applications of electrophoresis: lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) and the selection of oligonucleotide aptamers. Electrophoretically-driven LFIA (eLFIA) is a new technique aiming to enhance diagnostic sensitivity of LFIA in both antigen and serological tests. While previously applied to Hepatitis B and C, I aimed to extend eLFIA's scope to analyze the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, demonstrating a 77% reduction in the limit of detection compared to conventional LFIA. Shifting focus to aptamers, I utilized capillary electrophoresis (CE), with the highest partitioning efficiency, to address challenges in aptamer selection. I determined the optimum target concentration and developed bulk affinity assays workflow that quantitatively assesses the progress of selection. Understanding these parameters can significantly influence aptamer selection efficiency and can guide researchers in designing assays and developing novel diagnostic tools.