Project R-13395

Development of multicomponent hybridization sensors for highly selective nucleic acid detection (Research)

High selectivity of nucleic acid detection is important for medical diagnostic of drug resistant bacteria, genetic disorders, and cancer, environmental monitoring and forensic applications to name a few. Despite this importance, currently used genotyping methods still suffer from insufficient selectivity and specificity. Recently, I [Brittany Mueller, University of Central Florida] developed a hybridization probe that can detect a single nucleotide variation in a broad temperature range. This development was possibly due using most recent development in DNA nanotechnology. Importantly, the detection with high selectivity can be achieved using folded DNA and RNA analytes, and potentially double stranded DNA. Arguably, this is the most selective probe developed so far. This project aims to combine the selectivity of this probe with expertise at UHasselt on the use of a reference probe and target depletion to increase sensitivity. This is important in the context of early cancer diagnosis. Analysis of cell-free circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in plasma has emerged as a non-invasive method for the detection of tumor-derived nucleic acids. However, the available methods lack sensitivity since ctDNA defines only a few percent of the total cell-free DNA circulating in the blood.

01 January 2023 - 31 December 2024