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## Project idea

Our concentration dependent biosensor system is based on the aptamer system that Paige et. al. described in 2012 [YY]. Here they found that by combining a fluorescence aptamer with a metabolite recognizing aptamer as seen in figure XX, they could detect a specific metabolite by fluorescence experiments. They even showed that the system still worked when using a different metabolite recognizing aptamer, showing the great flexibility of the system.
The system, as seen in figure XX, consists of three RNA sequences called modules; 

* The fluorescence module 
* The transducer module 
* The recognition module 

Each of these will be described further on the pages "Orthogonality" (The fluorescence module) and "Concentration dependence" (The transducer and recognition modules). 

The main issue with this otherwise innovative sensor, is that it is only capable of detecting whether or not a metabolite is present - not the concentration of it. Therefore our goal was to improve this sensor by making it concentration dependent. We wanted to do this by finding metabolite recognizing aptamers with different affinities for the same target, and combining these with different optical aptamers with orthogonal emission specters. The simple idea is that if an aptamer with high affinity for the target is fused with an optical aptamer emitting green light, it will fluoresce green at even low concentrations. If an aptamer with a lower affinity is fused with a yellow-emitting aptamer, it needs a higher concentration to fluoresce and so forth. The concentration will thus be readable from a combination of both the intensity and especially the wavelength of the emitted light. 

For this to work, to different experiments must be carried out: The orthogonality experiments and the concentration dependence experiments. 

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layout: default
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## Project idea

Our concentration dependent biosensor system is based on the aptamer system that Paige et. al. described in 2012 [YY]. Here they found that by combining a fluorescence aptamer with a metabolite recognizing aptamer as seen in figure XX, they could detect a specific metabolite by fluorescence experiments. They even showed that the system still worked when using a different metabolite recognizing aptamer, showing the great flexibility of the system.

The main issue with this otherwise innovative sensor, is that it is only capable of detecting whether or not a metabolite is present in a reasonable amount - not the concentration of it. Therefore our goal was to improve this sensor by making it concentration dependent. We wanted to do this by making metabolite recognizing aptamers with different affinities for the same target, which can be combined to deduce a broad dynamic range. 
Update to fit new project idea
Update to fit new project idea
