Team:Heidelberg/Achievements

We established a NEW APPROACH to work with all types of functional nucleic acids, setting the foundations for their widespread use in synthetic biology

  • We developed a NEW STANDARD to easily clone functional RNAs for their expression in vitro and in vivo (RFC 110)

  • We established a NOVEL dual-color readout system to monitor the in vitro transcription of an RNA of interest based on a new ATP-switchable Spinach II aptamer

  • We established a NOVEL detection method for short ssDNAs and ssRNAs based on the HRP-mimicking DNAzyme

  • We designed de novo an ACTIVE SITE for twin ribozyme and proved its efficient cleavage activity in living yeast cells

  • We conceived and implemented an open-source SOFTWARE FOR THE DESIGN OF APTAMERS (MAWS) as a fast and affordable alternative to the laborious SELEX procedure

  • We conceived and implemented an open-source SOFTWARE ASSISTING THE DESIGN OF APTAZYMES (JAWS) to enable the construction of new sensing devices

  • We EXPERIMENTALLY VALIDATED several of our designed aptamers and aptazymes and fed the collected data back into the algorithms


We proved the PRINCIPLE that a ketamine-switchable aptazyme could be used to implement a TEST STRIPE to detect RAPE DRUGS in situ


We developed the APTABODY, an aptamer-based alternative to antibodies that drastically reduces the costs of performing WESTERN BLOTTING and allows to target proteins for which antibodies are not available