(Keynote) Enabling Continuous Molecular Monitoring in vivo via Implantable and Wearable Aptamer-Based Sensors

Abstract

The ability to continuously monitor fluctuating concentrations of specific molecules in the body can drastically improve precision medicine by allowing the real-time correlation of dynamic molecular processes with health and disease. While this ability has been pursued from multiple directions, electrochemical strategies have been successful and commercializable platforms. For example, continuous glucose monitors have dramatically improved the therapeutic management and quality of life for Type 1 diabetics. Unfortunately, the enzymatic sensing used in glucose monitors is not applicable to a large number of clinically relevant biomarkers. This limitation significantly reduces the scope of dynamic biochemical processes we can probe to study healthy human physiology and disease. In response, my laboratory is developing in vivo electrochemical aptamer-based sensors, a platform that is generalizable to the highly specific sensing of arbitrary molecular targets and supports continuous molecular monitoring in the body. In this presentation I will discuss the current state-of-the-art of these sensors, and the challenges we are addressing to enable preclinical and clinical applications.