Description:
The Aptamers Ligands: Powerful Tools from Molecular Evolution discusses these short, single strand oligonucleotides that can fold in a three-dimensional conformation and how they can provide a precise molecular recognition of a given target. These nucleic acid based ligands are identified from large naive combinatorial oligonucleotide libraries using a well-established technology called SELEX (systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment). Aptamers can be extremely specific towards their target molecule with high selectivity and proper affinity dissociation constants. Moreover, they can be selected to recognize a high diversity of molecules, from very small compounds, to large macromolecules, such as proteins.
Brief description: Dr. Frederic Ducongé, is a permanent researcher position at the Institute of Biomedical Imaging (I²BM) (300 researchers and 120 contract collaborators). During his career, he has been involved in research programs of five European networks. He also participated as an active member of several research programs supported by the French Association National for Research (ANR) and the French Association for Research on Cancer (ARC). For the last 20 years his work has been focused on combining molecular evolution with molecular imaging technologies in order to develop aptamers for diagnosis and therapy.