Polymerase-free measurement of microRNA-122 with single base specificity using single molecule arrays: Detection of drug-induced liver injury

Citation: PLOS One, 2017, doi: journal.pone.0179669 Abstract We have developed a single probe method for detecting microRNA from human serum using single molecule arrays, with sequence specificity down to a single base, and without the use of amplification by polymerases. An abasic peptide nucleic acid (PNA) probe—containing a reactive amine instead of a nucleotide at a specific position…

Novel bead-based platform for direct detection of unlabelled nucleic acids through Single Nucleobase Labelling

Citation:  Talanta, 2016, 161, 489-496 Abstract Over the last decade, circulating microRNAs have received attention as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. In particular, microRNA122 has been demonstrated to be an early and more sensitive indicator of drug-induced liver injury than the widely used biomarkers such as alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase. Recently, microRNA122 has been used in vitro to assess the cellular toxicity of…

Dynamic chemistry for enzyme-free allele discrimination in genotyping by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry

Abstract Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and insertions/deletions (indels) constitute important sources of genetic variation which provide insight into disease origins and differences in drug responses. The analysis of such genetic variation relies upon the generation of allele-specific products, typically by enzymatic extension or alternatively by the hybridization of DNA probes. MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry (MS) has been widely used as a read-out…

DNA Analysis by Dynamic Chemistry

Citation: Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2010, 49, 1809–1812. Abstract Finding flaws: An enzyme‐free method of DNA analysis raises the possibility of analyzing single‐nucleotide polymorphism, indel, and abasic sites using mass spectrometry as a readout tool. The methodology is suitable for the dual analysis of heterozygous samples.