Abstract

In this paper, we review the literature on optical evanescent field sensing in resonant cavities where aptamers are used as biochemical receptors. The combined advantages of highly sensitive whispering gallery mode resonator (WGMR)-based transducers, and of the unique properties of aptamers make this approach extremely interesting in the medical field, where there is a particularly high need for devices able to provide real time diagnosis for cancer, infectious diseases, or strokes. However, despite the superior performances of aptamers compared to antibodies and WGMR to other evanescent sensors, there is not much literature combining both types of receptors and transducers. Up to now, the WGMR that have been used are silica microspheres and silicon oxynitride (SiON) ring resonators.

Highlights

  • Ellington and Szostak [1] developed for the first time an in vitro selection technique that allowed the discovery of oligonucleotides or peptides that bind to specific targets with high specificity and affinity

  • Microspherical Whispering gallery mode based resonators (WGMR) have been used in the first demonstration of aptasensing

  • Microspheres have been used for detection of blood proteins such as thrombin (TBA-15 and Thrombin Binding Aptamer (TBA)-29)

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Summary

Introduction

Ellington and Szostak [1] developed for the first time an in vitro selection technique that allowed the discovery of oligonucleotides or peptides that bind to specific targets with high specificity and affinity. The interest in aptamers has increased significantly [2,3,4] because of their advantages compared to other biological receptors. Among these properties, we can enumerate the size, the synthesis and the stability. Whispering gallery mode based resonators (WGMR) have attracted much attention in the biomedical sensing field [5,6], including aptamer based sensors for thrombin detection [7,8], vascular endothelial growth factor [8] and toxins such as aflatoxin M1 [9]. WGMR have different morphologies with particular spectral features such as including narrow linewidth, high stability, and tunability

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