Detecting hydrophobic molecules with nucleic acid-based receptors

We will argue for applications of crossreactive arrays of solution-phase sensors in urinalysis, wherein these can be useful for screening, as well as monitoring of disease progress or treatment compliance. For our first demonstration we focus on the detection and classification process of the predominant hydrophobic molecules in urine, steroids, while taking advantage of a variety of differentially crossreactive DNA-based hydrophobic receptors, three-way junctions. We discuss our progress in addressing some of the traditional limitations of crossreactive arrays and what remains to be done to move these systems into clinical applications.