“ Aptamers : Active Targeting Ligands for in vivo Imaging Diagnostics and Target Therapy”

Jung Hwan Lee, Ph.D

CEO, INTEROligo Corporation

Aptamers are a class of small nucleic acid ligands that are composed of RNA or DNA oligonucleotides and have high binding affinity and specificity for their targets. Similar to antibodies, aptamers interact with their targets by recognizing a specific three-dimensional structure and are thus termed “chemical antibodies.” In contrast to protein antibodies, aptamers offer unique chemical and biological characteristics based on their oligonucleotide properties. Hence, they are more suitable for the development of novel clinical applications. Aptamer technology has been widely investigated in various biomedical fields for biomarker discovery, in vitro diagnosis, in vivo imaging, and targeted therapy. This seminar will include several approaches for the use of aptamers in targeted therapeutics, including aptamer-drug conjugation, aptamer-nanoparticle conjugation, aptamer-mediated implantable targeted therapy, and PET/CT imaging.