Antidote-mediated reversal of extracellular aptamer staining

1. A method for live cell identification, the method comprising:

(a) providing a heterogeneous population of live cells, the heterogeneous population of live cells comprising a cell having a surface-bound molecular target;

(b) contacting the surface-bound molecular target with an aptamer conjugate having a binding affinity for the molecular target;

(c) identifying the cell having the surface-bound molecular target amongst the heterogeneous population of cells using the aptamer conjugate; and

(d) removing the aptamer conjugate from the surface-bound molecular target to prepare a sorted cell in its native state,

wherein the aptamer conjugate comprises a multiplicity of sorting aptamers each comprising a binding label complexed to a linker by binding of the binding label to the linker; and

wherein the linker comprises a reporter label and/or a magnetic label.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising sorting the cell having the surface-bound molecular target from at least a portion the heterogeneous population of cells using the reporter label and/or the magnetic label.

3. A method for sorting a live cell in its native state from a heterogeneous population, the method comprising:

(a) providing a heterogeneous population of live cells, the heterogeneous population of live cells comprising a cell having a surface-bound molecular target;

(b) contacting the surface-bound molecular target with an aptamer conjugate having a binding affinity for the molecular target;

(c) sorting the cell having the surface-bound molecular target from at least a portion of the heterogeneous population of live cells using the reporter label and/or a magnetic label; and

(d) removing the aptamer conjugate from the surface-bound molecular target to prepare a sorted cell in its native state,

wherein the aptamer conjugate comprises a multiplicity of sorting aptamers each comprising a binding label complexed to a linker by binding of the binding label to the linker; and

wherein the linker comprises the reporter label and/or the magnetic label.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising identifying the cell having the surface-bound molecular target amongst the heterogeneous population of cells using the sorting label.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein removing the aptamer conjugate from the surface-bound molecular target comprises contacting the aptamer conjugate with an oligonucleotide antidote, the oligonucleotide antidote comprising a sequence at least partially complementary to a portion of the sorting aptamer.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein each of the sorting aptamers are the same sorting apatmer.

7. The method of claim 3 , wherein at least one of the multiplicity of sorting aptamers is different from another sorting aptamer.

8. The method of claim 3 , wherein the reporter label comprises a fluorophore moiety and the cell is sorted by fluorescence-activated cell sorting.

9. The method of claim 3 , wherein the magnetic label comprises a magnetic bead and the cell is sorted by magnetic-activated cell sorting.

10. The method of claim 3 , wherein the removing step comprises modulating the temperature.

11. The method of claim 3 , wherein the removing step comprises modulating a concentration of a divalent ion.

12. The method of claim 3 further comprising removing exogenous material.

13. The method of claim 3 , wherein the sorted cell in its native state comprises a live cell

(i) having cellular function substantially similar to its cellular function prior to the binding of the sorting aptamer; and/or

(ii) substantially free of surface-bound sorting aptamer.

14. The method of claim 3 , wherein the binding label comprises biotin and the linker comprises streptavidin.

15. The method of claim 3 , wherein the multiplicity of sorting aptamers comprises 2, 3, or 4 sorting aptamers complexed to the linker.