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Electrochemical aptamer-based sensors

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Bioanalytical Reviews

Abstract

The valuable properties of aptamers, such as specificity, sensitivity, stability, cost-effectiveness and design flexibility, have favoured their use as biorecognition elements in biosensor development. These synthetic affinity probes can be developed for almost any target molecule, covering a wide range of applications in fields such as clinical diagnosis and therapy, environmental monitoring and food control. The combination of aptamers with high-performance electrochemical transducers, with their inherent high sensitivities, fast response times and simple equipment, has already provided several electrochemical aptamer-based sensors. Moreover, the small size and versatility of aptamers allow efficient immobilisations in high-density monolayers, an important feature towards miniaturisation and integration of compact electrochemical devices. This review describes the state-of-the-art of electrochemical aptamer-based sensors, entering into the details of the different strategies and types of electrochemical transduction and also considering their advantages when applied to the analysis of complex matrices.

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Acknowledgements

Dr. Prieto-Simón is grateful to the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación for a Juan de la Cierva fellowship supporting her research at the IBEC. Dr. Campàs acknowledges financial support from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación and the Fondo Social Europeo through the Ramón y Cajal programme as well as the Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria through the FEDER-RTA2008-00084-00-00 project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Bioenginyeria de Catalunya (IBEC), C/Baldiri Reixac 10-12, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    Beatriz Prieto-Simón

  2. IRTA, Ctra. Poble Nou, km. 5.5, 43540, Sant Carles de la Ràpita, Spain

    Mònica Campàs

  3. Université de Perpignan Via Domitia, IMAGES EA4218, Building S 52 Av. Paul Alduy, 66860, Perpignan Cedex, France

    Jean-Louis Marty

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  1. Beatriz Prieto-Simón
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  2. Mònica Campàs
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  3. Jean-Louis Marty
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Correspondence to Beatriz Prieto-Simón.

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Prieto-Simón, B., Campàs, M. & Marty, JL. Electrochemical aptamer-based sensors. Bioanal Rev 1, 141–157 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12566-010-0010-1

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