Full PhD Scholarship

Kinetic modelling of aptameric sensing for real-time pathogen detection and bio-screening

An efficient real-time mechanism for bio-screening is urgently needed to rapidly detect and
isolate disease pathogens, and screen halal foods and agricultural materials.
Aptameric sensing is a unique biological phenomenon for probing a wide range of cellular and
(bio)molecular targets in environmental and food samples. Aptamers are mostly short, singlestranded
RNA or DNA sequences that can selectively identify different cellular and non-cellular
materials when bound to relevant receptors of the target. However, fundamental
understanding of the molecular characteristics and binding behaviour of aptamers is limited,
and this has obstructed advancements in the applications of this phenomenon.
This project will develop a kinetic model to describe the biophysical binding mechanism of
immobilised nucleic acid aptamers in order to establish the theoretical framework and
understanding of the biomolecular binding and screening phenomenon. Experimental analysis
using surface plasmon resonance (SPR) will be used to validate the theoretical model under
different physicochemical conditions. The findings from this project will provide the basis to
evaluate the intermolecular binding characteristics, and will be pivotal in developing high
throughput aptameric bio-screening assays with optimal binding and screening characteristics.
Scholarship provision for this project is for both tuition and stipend. Interested candidates
should contact:

A/Professor Michael K. Danquah
Associate Professor | Department of Chemical Engineering
Associate Dean (R&D) | School of Engineering and Science
Curtin University, Sarawak Malaysia
Tel | +60 85 443 821 (GMT+8)
Fax | +60 85 443 837
Email | mkdanquah@curtin.edu.my