Development of Gold Nanoparticle-DNA Nanostructure Assembly for Detection of DNA, RNA and Protein Biomarkers

Abstract

There exist many biomarkers that span across the genome, transcriptome and proteome, and their timely and accurate detection is crucial to the diagnosis and prognosis of diseases. This places emphasis on the successful detection of target genes and proteins in the first place, which provides the motivation for the development of the gold nanoparticle (AuNP)-based platform that is the central theme of this thesis. Through the design of AuNP-DNA conjugates and their interactions with target biomarkers, AuNP nanostructures are assembled and the readout is presented on complementary (agarose gel, DLS and spectrofluorometer) platforms. AuNPs assemblies are either used as probes or shown as a definitive readout for the detection of biomarkers spanning from the G6PD gene to let7 miRNA and ER protein. Gold nanoassemblies are also achieved using the DNA quadruplex which, through modulation with DNA hairpins, gave insight to the possibility of a multi-tiered and multifactorial diagnostic system.