Abstract: The present invention relates to the field of protein engineering, molecular imaging, and molecular diagnostics. More particularly, provided herein are novel synthetic aptamers produced using the Gyrl-like family of proteins as a scaffold. Methods of obtaining and using the synthetic mutein aptamers are also provided.

Abstract: Sensitive and specific detection of nucleic acids can be achieved using a chemical ligation-based template assisted rapid assay (TARA-L) with simple chemical reactions between probes and without the need for enzymes. Probes are designed to form a ligation product when they anneal to adjacent portions of a target nucleic acid. The ligation products can be detected, such as in immunochromatographic assays. The methods allow for the fast, efficient analysis of biological samples for the presence of nucleic acids and can be used, for example, in point of care settings.

Abstract: The detection and quantification of nucleic acid sequences can be done using template catalyzed TARA transfer reactions without enzyme and PCR. It comes with the novel chemistry platform technology using Template Assisted Rapid Assay (TARA), an enzyme-free, PCR-less and rapid transfer reaction assay directly from samples from nasopharyngeal swab, nasal aspirate, oropharyngeal swab or blood. The procedures of the detection and quantification of nucleic acid sequences include utilizing two or more oligonucleotide probes that reversibly bind a target nucleic acid in close proximity to each other and possess complementary reactive TARA reaction moieties. In addition, various methods, reagents, and kits for detecting and quantifying nucleic acid sequences and for determining the sequence of nucleic acids are provided.