General Expedite™ 8909 DNA Synthesiser set up for the synthesis of aptamers and aptamer library. The phosphoramidite samples were dissolved in 20 mL (20 mL for 1 g of sample) acetonitrile (DCM for Tentagel beads), put in bottles and screwed into the synthesiser lines. The other reagents put on to the machine: oxidizer (0.02M iodine, 20% pyridine), Cap A Mix (THF/Pyridine/acetic anhydride 8:1:1), Cap B Mix (10% methylimidazole in THF), deblock (3% trimethylamine in DCM) and ETT activator solution (0.25 M, 5-ethylthio-1H-tetrazole in acetonitrile). A leak test is run to check nitrogen is not leaking from the lines. If passed, the lines are then flushed with the new reagents added to them. The beads are added to the column, which is then fitted onto the synthesiser, which is then flushed with acetonitrile several times. The sequence and protocol are then selected using Validate XP connected Desalt of MinE07-Biotin, MinE07-U-Ph-Biotin, MinE07-U-Vi-Biotin and MinE07-U-I-Biotin Aptamers using Zetadex. Purification of the RNA aptamers was carried out by size exclusion gel chromatography using Zetadex resin (emp Biotech). A 20 mL column was prepared with 1 mL of cotton wool at the bottom of the column. A slurry of zetadex resin and autoclaved water was prepared for use in the column. 1 mL of aptamer was loaded onto the column and the column was flushed with deionised water. 1 mL fractions were collected. This was repeated for each aptamer, with a new column each time. The fractions were run on the Nanodrop UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The fractions containing an RNA signal were pooled. dried down and re-suspended in reverse-osmosis purified water and stored in the freezer (-20°C).