This publication by Amal Mathai was recognized as HIGHLY IMPACTFUL by the reviewers
Sensitive detection of viral RNA is critical for reliable diagnostics, but extensive RNA secondary and tertiary structures often block access to target sites. Rolling circle amplification (RCA) is a promising isothermal strategy that can be primed directly by RNA, but its efficiency is often limited by these structural barriers.
In this work, we present antisense oligonucleotide-assisted RCA (ASO-RCA), a general method that uses short upstream ASOs to remodel RNA structure and expose DNAzyme-generated priming sites. Across five DNAzyme–circular DNA template systems targeting the SARS-CoV-2 genome, ASOs improved template hybridization and RCA output by up to 70-fold. This effect was robust across both linear and quasi-exponential RCA formats and remained effective even in 50% pooled saliva. Clinical testing further showed that ASO-RCA enhanced diagnostic performance, achieving 100% sensitivity and up to 97.5–100% accuracy.
Overall, ASO-DNAzyme-RCA offers a simple, robust, and clinically relevant approach for overcoming RNA structure barriers, enabling more sensitive nucleic acid detection in viral diagnostics.
Check out the full paper HERE.
Li Lab postdoctoral fellow Erin McConnell has been awarded the NSERC & L’Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Supplement. Congratulations to Erin for her fantastic work as a scientist and as a role model for young scientists around the world.
I’m very happy that I could get the Karl Freeman Prize. I’m quite lucky. Li lab members gave me a lot of help and support. Thanks Guys. Hope next year, some of you can also get it. I know you can do it, Rachel. To speak good English, I still have a long way to go (bacon, beacon, I know how to pronounce them now). Please correct me if I mispronounce something. I will appreciate it.