Area(s) of Expertise

Dr. Xiao’s group works on applications of biosensors and biotechnologies at the interface of chemistry, biochemistry, and molecular biology. The main goal of her research is centered around the development of aptamer selection techniques and aptamer-based sensor platforms, and the use of such advancements to develop sensitive, specific, cost-effective assays and devices for detection of medically- and forensically-relevant small-molecule targets in real-world samples.

Publications

• High-Throughput Aptamer Characterization via Real-Time Nuclease Digestion , Journal of the American Chemical Society (2026)
• Affinity Maturation of a Fentanyl Aptamer by Motif-SELEX , JACS Au (2025)
• Exploring the relationship between aptamer binding thermodynamics, affinity, and specificity , Nucleic Acids Research (2025)
• High-Contrast Aptamer-Based Merocyanine Displacement Assays for Sensitive Small Molecule Detection , ACS Sensors (2025)
• Improving Aptamer Affinity and Determining Sequence–Activity Relationships via Motif-SELEX , Journal of the American Chemical Society (2025)
• Reagentless Real‐Time ATP Monitoring with New DNA Aptamers , Small (2025)
• Determining the Precision of High-Throughput Sequencing and Its Influence on Aptamer Selection , Analytical Chemistry (2024)
• Developing Aptamer-Based Colorimetric Opioid Tests , JACS Au (2024)
• Examining the Relationship between Aptamer Complexity and Molecular Discrimination of a Low-Epitope Target , ACS Central Science (2024)
• Exploring the Landscape of Aptamers: From Cross-Reactive to Selective to Specific, High-Affinity Receptors for Cocaine , JACS Au (2024)