Aptamer-based ‘point-of-care testing’

•Aptamers are single-stranded oligonucleotides that can be artificially generated by a method called ‘SELEX’.•We discussed novel, portable, and aptamer-based sensing strategies that have been used in ‘point-of-care testing’.•Technical elements, assay formats for diseases are discussed with aptasensors.•Comparison has been set based-on conventional assay formats.•Detections of wide range of target molecules are discussed.

Aptamers are single-stranded oligonucleotides that can be artificially generated by a method called Systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX). The generated aptamers have been assessed for high-performance sensing applications due to their appealing characteristics. With either aptamers alone or complementing with antibodies, several high sensitive and portable sensors have been demonstrated for use in ‘point-of-care testing’. Due to their high suitability and flexibility, aptamers are conjugated with nanostructures and utilized in field applications. Moreover, aptamers are more amenable to chemical modifications, making them capable of utilization with most developed sensors. In this overview, we discuss novel, portable, and aptamer-based sensing strategies that are suitable for ‘point-of-care testing’.