Aptamers are DNA oligonucleotides capable of binding different classes of targets with high affinity and selectivity. They are particularly attractive as affinity probes in multiplexed quantitative analysis of proteins. Aptamers are typically selected from large libraries of random DNA sequences in a general approach termed systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX). SELE...

In parallel to charm hadroproduction the experiment Selex (E781) at Fermilab is pursuing a rich hyperon physics program. Selex employs a 600 GeV/c beam consisting of 50 % Σ− and π− each. The three-stage magnetic spectrometer covering 0.1 ≤ xF ≤ 1.0 features a high-precision silicon vertex system, broad-coverage particle identification using TRD and RICH, and a three-stage lead glass photon calo...

Parasite infections are largely dependent on interactions between pathogen and different host cell populations to guarantee a successful infectious process. This is particularly true for obligatory intracellular parasites as Plasmodium, Toxoplasma, and Leishmania, to name a few. Adhesion to and entry into the cell are essential steps requiring specific parasite and host cell molecules. The larg...

BACKGROUND Aptamers are oligonucleotides displaying specific binding properties for a predetermined target. They are selected from libraries of randomly synthesized candidates through an in vitro selection process termed SELEX (Systematic Evolution of Ligands by EXponential enrichment) alternating selection and amplification steps. SELEX is followed by cloning and sequencing of the enriched poo...

Often a screening or selection experiment targets a cell or tissue, which presents many possible molecular targets and identifies a correspondingly large number of ligands. We describe a statistical method to extract an estimate of the complexity or richness of the set of molecular targets from competition experiments between distinguishable ligands, including aptamers derived from combinatoria...