Utilizing a Key Aptamer Structure-Switching Mechanism for the Ultrahigh Frequency Detection of Cocaine
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Aptasensing of small molecules remains a challenge as detection often requires the use of labels or signal amplification methodologies, resulting in both difficult-to-prepare sensor platforms and multistep, complex assays. Furthermore, many aptasensors rely on the binding mechanism or structural changes associated with target capture by the aptameric probe, resulting in a detection scheme customized to each aptamer. It is in this context that we report herein a sensitive cocaine aptasensor that offers both real-time and label-free measurement capabilities. Detection relies on the electromagnetic piezoelectric acoustic sensor (EMPAS) platform. The sensing interface consists of a S-(11-trichlorosilyl-undecanyl)benzenethiosulfonate (BTS) adlayer-coated quartz disc onto which a structure-switching cocaine aptamer (MN6) is immobilized, completing the preparation of the MN6 cocaine aptasensor (M6CA). The EMPAS system has recently been employed as the foundation of a cocaine aptasensor based on a structurally rigid cocaine aptamer variant (MN4), an aptasensor referred to by analogy as M4CA. M6CA represents a significant increase in terms of analytical performance, compared to not only M4CA but also other cocaine aptamer-based sensors that do not rely on signal amplification, producing an apparent K(d) of 27 ± 6 μM and a 0.3 μM detection limit. Remarkably, the latter is in the range of that achieved by cocaine aptasensors relying on signal amplification. Furthermore, M6CA proved to be capable not only of regaining its cocaine-binding ability via simple buffer flow over the sensing interface (i.e., without the necessity to implement an additional regeneration step, such as in the case of M4CA), but also of detecting cocaine in a multicomponent matrix possessing potentially assay-interfering species. Finally, through observation of the distinct shape of its response profiles to cocaine injection, demonstration was made that the EMPAS system in practice offers the possibility to distinguish between the binding mechanisms of structure-switching (MN6) vs rigid (MN4) aptameric probes, an ability that could allow the EMPAS to provide a more universal aptasensing platform than what is ordinarily observed in the literature.
Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.
How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".