User:John Chen
I am a new member of OpenWetWare!
Contact Info
- John Chen
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- 229 Vassar St.
- Cambridge, MA 02139
- johnchen AT mit DOT edu
I learned about OpenWetWare from my 20.109 academic instructor, and I've joined because of academic/class materials.
Education
- 2013, BS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Research interests
- Nanotechnology
Publications
Useful links
Background
- Aptamers are molecules that bind to a specific target molecule
- Through the process of SELEX (Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment), one can isolate and enrich aptamers that are specific for the particular target in question
- This has applications in research such as sorting through a patient's blood sample to find particular cancer cells (1. Xu, Ye. "Aptamer-Based Microfluidic Device for Enrichment, Sorting, and Detection of Multiple Cancer Cells." Anal. Chem.. (2009): 7436-7442. Print)
- Other applications include the use of aptamer-derived particles for treatment of HIV, cancer and other diseases by targeting specific target molecules
- Our goal is to, by understanding the binding kinetics of many cellular processes such as transcription and translation, create a method for the in vivo production of these aptamers to combat these diseases (as opposed to simply for diagnostic purposes or ex vivo injection)
Ideas and approaches
- Design a method to self-produce aptamers to combat undesired blood clotting or blood clotting diseases (such as hemophilia)
- Design a way to self-produce aptamers to combat metabolic processes in individuals with certain enzymatic deficiencies
- Engineer a way to endogenously produce aptamers that prevent prostate cancer cells
- Using principles of synthetic biology, engineer a ways to use the bacteria living in the human body to produce aptamers/chemicals in response to a particular deficiency or disease (HIV, metabolic diseases, etc)
Review of the literature
Preventing the growth of prostate cancer cells through aptamers This study describes the development of aptamers that bind specifically to Androgen Receptors (AR), whose activity repression is essential to controlling the proliferation of prostate cancer cells. The aptamer was designed such that it bound specifically to the AR and also had another domain that served to silence the target gene of the AR. Transport of the aptamer was made without a vector by binding this corepressor to a protein transduction domain (PTD). Reeb, CA. "A Designed Cell-Permeable Aptamer-Based Corepressor Peptide Is Highly Specific for the Androgen Receptor and Inhibits Prostate Cancer Cell Growth in a Vector-Free Mode.." Endocrinology (2011): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21486935. Web. 18 Apr 2011. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21486935>.
Combatting HIV by Aptamers and siRNAs
This study describes using aptamers and siRNAs (small interfering RNAs) as a potential way of HIV and AIDS treatment. An aptamer-siRNA dual system is used in which both components contribute to the prevention of HIV proliferation. A glycoprotein on the surface of HIV is important in the infection process by targeting and integrating into CD4 T cells. These aptamers target the glycoprotein, and the Dicer substrate siRNA delivered by these aptamers inhibit HIV proliferation and infection.
Zhou, J. "Aptamer-Targeted RNAi for HIV-1 Therapy.." Methods in Molecular Biology (2011): 355-71. Web. 17 Apr 2011. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21431697>.
