Aptamers-on-nanofiber as a novel hybrid capturing moiety

In this study, we present a new bio-inspired hybrid capturing moiety, aptamers on a polymeric polystyrene-poly(styrene-co-maleic anhydride) nanofiber, for the purification of target protein. These novel hybrid composites were successfully fabricated by immobilizing aptamers on nanofibers synthesized by electrospinning. The advantageous characteristics of nanofibers, such as a very large surface to volume ratio and flexible modification of the surface, contributed to the greatly improved surface coverage of aptamers, resulting in the highly increased capturing capacity of the target proteins. As a result, this increased capturing capacity led to 85% of recovery yield in the protein purification. In addition to easy preparation and cost effectiveness of this system, these novel aptamers-on-nanofiber composites showed good stability with no conspicuous reduction in the purification efficiency, even after repeated use for seven months.