Yuanxi Yang

PhD Student

Office: Roberts Building, Room 224, UCL

Education:

PhD, Chemical Engineering, University College London, London, UK (2020-Present)

MSc, Biochemical Engineering, University College London, London, UK (2019)

BSc, Chemical Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Zhengzhou, China(2016)

Research:

With the development of precision medicine, the manipulation of target biomolecular is being paid increasing attention. Selective catch and controlled release of specific types of cells, bacteria, and viruses are still challenging without sacrificing the materials and cells' structural and functional integrity. To solve this problem, my work focuses on controlling target molecular with nanoparticle systems.

The aptamer-based system is one of the research focuses on solving this problem. Aptamers are single-stranded nucleic acids isolated from random-sequence DNA or RNA libraries by an in vitro selection process termed systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX). The dissociation constants (Kd) of aptamers range from nanomolar to picomolar scale, comparable to the Kd of antibodies. Furthermore, the high affinity and specificity interactions between aptamers and receptors on the cell surface provide an effective means of cell adhesion. Thus, the aptamer catch release system has a high potential to be a low-cost and highly efficient method to select target molecular compared to the traditional antibody system. In my research project, an aptamer-based control and release process will be applied to catch target cells and bacteria for helping immunization therapy, cell banking, and fast diagnostic.