Personal Bio

Obtin is currently a post-doctoral fellow and joined Dr. Xiao’s lab in 2018. He received his PhD from NC State University in 2024. Obtin enjoys working at the bench, analyzing data, writing papers and grants, and, in his free time, enjoys trying different food.

Research Summary

Obtin is knowledgeable in aptamer selection and characterization as well as sensor and analytical method development. He is currently developing new in vitro selection methods to select high-performance aptamers for protein biomarkers of clinical interest.

Publication List

  • Yu H., Canoura J., Byrd C., Alkhamis O., Bacon A., Yan A., Sullenger B., & Xiao Y. (2025). Improving Aptamer Affinity and Determining Sequence-Activity Relationships via Motif-SELEX. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 147, 9472–9486. 
  • Canoura J., Alkhamis O., Byrd C., Wang L., Bryant A., & Xiao Y. (2024). Determining the Precision of High-Throughput Sequencing and Its Influence on Aptamer Selection. Anal. Chem. 96, 17720-17729
  • Canoura J., Alkhamis O., Venzke M., Ly, P. T., & Xiao, Y. (2024). Developing Aptamer-Based Colorimetric Opioid Tests. JACS Au. 4, 1059 – 1072.
  • Wang L., Canoura J., Byrd C., Nguyen T., Alkhamis O., Ly P., & Xiao Y. (2024). Examining the Relationship between Aptamer Complexity and Molecular Discrimination of a Low-Epitope Target. ACS Cent. Sci. 10, 2213 – 2228.
  • Yang K., Alkhamis O., Canoura J., Bryant A., Gong E. M., Barbu M., Taylor S., Nikic D., Banerjee S., Xiao Y., Stojanovic M., & Landry, D. W. (2024). Exploring the Landscape of Aptamers: From Cross-Reactive to Selective to Specific, High-Affinity Receptors for Cocaine. JACS Au. 4, 760 – 770.
  • Canoura J., Nguyen T., Byrd C., Hill R., Liu Y.Z. & Xiao Y. (2024) Generation of high-affinity aptamers for indazole synthetic cannabinoids. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 96, 11488 – 11497.
  • Wang L. L., Alkhamis O., Canoura J., Yu H. X. & Xiao Y. (2024) Rapid nuclease-assisted selection of high-affinity small-molecule aptamers. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 146, 21296 – 21307.
  • Alkhamis O., Canoura J., Wang L. L. & Xiao Y. (2024) Nuclease-assisted selection of slow-off rate aptamers. Sci. Adv. 10, eadl3426.
  • Canoura J., Alkhamis O., Venzke M., Ly P.T. & Xiao Y. (2024) Developing aptamer-based colorimetric opioid tests. JACS Au.. 4, 1059 – 1072.
  • Yang K., Alkhamis O., Canoura J., Bryant A., Gong E., Barbu M., Taylor S., Nikic D., Banerjee S., Xiao Y., Stojanovic M., Landry D. (2023) Exploring the landscape of aptamers: from cross-reactive to selective to specific, high-affinity receptors for cocaine. JACS Au.. 4, 760 – 770.
  • Alkhamis O., Canoura J., Wu Y., Emmons N., Wang Y., Honeywell K., Plaxco K., Kippin T., Xiao Y. (2023) High-affinity aptamers for in vitro and in vivo cocaine sensing. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 146, 3230 – 3240.
  • Canoura J., Liu Y. Z., Alkhamis O. & Xiao Y. (2023) Aptamer-based fentanyl detection in biological fluids. Anal. Chem. 95, 18258 – 18267.
  • Alkhamis O., Canoura J., Ly P.T. & Xiao Y. (2023) Using exonuclease for aptamer characterization, engineering, and sensing. Acc. Chem. Res. 56, 1731 –  1743.
  • Alkhamis O., Canoura J., Willis C., Wang L.L., Perry, J. & Xiao Y. (2023) Comparison of aptamer signaling mechanisms reveals disparities in sensor response and strategies to eliminate false signals. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 145, 12407 – 12422.
  • Canoura J., Liu Y.Z., Perry, J., Willis, C. & Xiao Y. (2023) A suite of aptamer-based sensors for the detection of fentanyl and its analogs. ACS Sensors 8, 1901 – 1911.
  • Alkhamis O. & Xiao Y. (2023) Systematic study of in vitro selection stringency reveals how to enrich high-affinity aptamers. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 145, 194 – 206.
  • Canoura J., Liu Y.Z., Alkhamis O., Willis C. & Xiao Y. (2023) High-throughput quantitative binding analysis of DNA aptamers using exonucleases. Nucleic Acids Res. 51, e19.
  • Jin X., Liu Y.Z., Alkhamis O., Canoura J., Bacon A., Xu R.Y., Fu, F.F. & Xiao Y. (2022) Near-infrared dye-aptamer assay for small molecule detection in complex specimens. Anal. Chem. 94, 10082 – 10090.
  • Alkhamis O., Canoura J., Bukhryakov K.V., Tarifa A., DeCaprio A.P. & Xiao Y. (2022) DNA aptamer-cyanine complexes as generic colorimetric small-molecule sensors. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 61, e202112305.
  • Paudyal J., Wang P., Zhou F., Liu Y.Z., Cai Y. & Xiao Y. (2021) Platinum-nanoparticle-modified single-walled carbon nanotube-laden paper electrodes for electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol. ACS Appl. Nano Mater. 4, 13798 – 13806.
  • Liu Y.Z., Liu X.T., Alkhamis O., Yu H.X., Canoura J. & Xiao Y. (2021) Aptamer-integrated paper electrochemical device for multi-analyte detection. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces. 13, 17330 – 17339.
  • Liu Y.Z., Canoura J, Alkhamis O. & Xiao Y. (2021) Immobilization strategies for enhancing sensitivity of electrochemical aptamer-based sensors. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces. 13, 9491 – 9499.
  • Yu H.X., Luo Y.P., Alkhamis O., Canoura J., Yu B.Y. & Xiao Y. (2021) Isolation of natural DNA aptamers for challenging small-molecule targets – cannabinoids. Anal. Chem. 93, 3172 – 3180.
  • Yu H.X., Alkhamis O., Canoura J. and Liu Y.Z. & Xiao Y. (2021) Advances and challenges in small-molecule aptamer isolation, characterization and sensing. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 133, 2 – 26.
  • Yu H. X., Chen Z.M., Liu Y.Z., Alkhamis O., Song Z.P. & Xiao Y. (2021) Fabrication of aptamer-modified paper electrochemical devices for on-site biosensing. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 60, 2993 – 3000.
  • Canoura J., Yu H.X., Alkhamis O., Roncancio R., Farhana R. and Xiao Y. (2021) Accelerating post-SELEX aptamer engineering using exonuclease digestion. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 143, 805 – 816.
  • Alkhamis O., Yang W.J., Farhana R., Yu H.X. and Xiao Y. (2020) Label-free profiling of DNA aptamer-small molecule binding using T5 exonuclease. Nucleic Acids Res. 48, e120.
  • Liu Y.Z., Yu H.X., Alkhamis O., Moliver J. & Xiao Y. (2020) Tuning biosensor cross-reactivity using aptamer mixtures. Anal. Chem. 92, 5041 – 5047.
  • Wu Y., Belmonte I., Sykes, K., Xiao, Y. & White R. (2019) A perspective on the future role of aptamers in analytical chemistry. Anal. Chem. 91, 15335 – 15344
  • Alkhamis O., Canoura J., Yu H.X., Liu Y.Z. & Xiao Y. (2019) Innovative engineering and sensing strategies for aptamer-based small-molecule detection. Trends Anal. Chem. 121, 115699.
  • Gao H.L., Zhao, J.X., Huang Y., Cheng X., Wang S., Han Y., Xiao Y. & Lou X.H. (2019) Universal design of structure-switching aptamers with signal reporting functionality. Anal. Chem. 91, 14514 – 14521.
  • Yang W.J., Yu H.X., Alkhamis O., Liu Y.Z., Canoura, J., Fu F.F. & Xiao Y. (2019) In vitro isolation of class-specific oligonucleotide-based small-molecule receptors. Nucleic Acids Res. 47, e71.
  • Luo Y.P., Yu H.X., Alkhamis O., Liu Y.Z., Lou X.H., Yu B.Y. & Xiao Y. (2019) Label-free, visual detection of small molecules using highly target-responsive multi-module split aptamer constructs. Anal. Chem. 91, 7199 – 7207.
  • Canoura J., Wang Z.W., Yu H.X., Alkhamis O., Fu F.F. & Xiao Y. (2018) No Structure-switching required: A generalizable exonuclease-mediated aptamer-based assay for small-molecule detection. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 140, 9961 – 9971.
  • Wang Z.W., Yu H.X., Canoura J., Liu Y.Z., Alkhamis O., Fu F.F. & Xiao Y. (2018) Introducing structure-switching functionality into small-molecule-binding aptamers via nuclease-directed truncation. Nucleic Acids Res. 46, e81.
  • Yu H.X., Yang W.J., Alkhamis O., Canoura J., Yang K. & Xiao Y. (2018) In vitro isolation of small-molecule-binding aptamers with intrinsic dye-displacement functionality. Nucleic Acids Res. 46, e43.
  • Yu H.X., Canoura J., Guntupalli B., Alkhamis O. & Xiao Y. (2018) Sensitive detection of small-molecule targets using cooperative binding split aptamers and enzyme-assisted target recycling. Anal. Chem. 90, 1748 – 1758.
  • Liang P.P., Canoura J., Yu H.X., Alkhamis O. & Xiao Y. (2018) Dithiothreitol-regulated coverage of oligonucleotide-modified gold nanoparticles to achieve optimized biosensor performance. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces. 10, 4233 – 4242.