Congratulations to Everett Allchin! Everett’s paper “Generalized Strategy for Engineering Mammalian Cell-Compatible RNA-Based Biosensors from Random Sequence Libraries” has been selected as a VINSE Spotlight Publication.
This work by Allchin et al. from the Lippmann lab designed a framework for producing mammalian cell-compatible biosensors using aptamers selected from a large random library by Capture-SELEX. As a proof-of-concept, they generated and characterized a fluorescent RNA biosensor against L-dopa, the precursor of several neurotransmitters. Overall, they suggest that this approach will have utility for generating RNA biosensors that can reliably detect custom targets in mammalian cells.