The present invention relates to the field of anastasis, i.e., the process of reversal of apoptosis. More specifically, the present invention provides methods and compositions useful for studying anastasis. The present invention also provides a biosensor comprising (a) a split transcription factor complex comprising one half of a split transcription factor linked to a transmembrane domain via an enzyme cleavable linker; (b) a split transcription factor comprising the other half of the split transcription factor linked to a MTS via an enzyme-cleavable linker; and (c) a reporter system comprising (1) a first nucleic acid encoding a site specific recombinase operably linked to the site specific sequence for the transcription factor; and (2) a second nucleic acid comprising a stop codon cassette flanked by site specific recombination sequences, wherein the split transcription factor is Gal 4 or split Q. In other embodiments, the recombinase is Cre or FLP.

Provided is a microfluidic chip for generating a plurality of droplets comprising plural droplet-forming units serially connected together, an inlet for receiving the loading fluid and providing the loading fluid to the plural droplet-forming units, and an outlet for discharging the loading fluid remained after passing through the plural droplet-forming units. Each of the individual droplet-forming unit include an inflow channel, a neck channel, a droplet-forming well and a bypass channel therearound, a restricted flow port element, and an outflow channel, the arrangement of which allows the microfluidic chip to form robust and stable droplets for reliable and flexible drug screening assays using a small sample input size.

This invention relates to an apparatus and a method for measuring whether organic matter is present or whether or not organisms (cells or tissue) are alive using infrared absorption spectroscopic analysis. The measurement apparatus of the invention includes an infrared light source for radiating infrared rays on a sample, an infrared detection unit for detecting the infrared rays transmitted or reflected from the sample, and a determination unit for identifying an amide infrared absorption peak of the sample using the detected infrared rays and for determining whether organic matter is present or whether organisms are alive or not in the sample using the identified amide infrared absorption peak. In this invention, a reagent is not used, simple measurement is performed, quantification is feasible, and the presence or absence of cells or tissues and changes in the life and death can be consecutively measured for the same sample.

Disclosed herein are antibodies having binding specificity to the amino acid sequences Ala Ser Ser Gly Leu Thr Val Glu Val Asp (SEQ ID NO:1) and Thr Val Glu Val Asp (SEQ ID NO:14), and methods of detecting cell death in a sample, comprising contacting the sample with a first antibody specific for a C-terminal amino acid sequence Ala Ser Ser Gly Leu Thr Val Glu Val Asp (SEQ ID NO:1) or Thr Val Glu Val Asp (SEQ ID NO:14) of a CK18 protein fragment having a C-terminal amino acid sequence of Val Glu Val Asp (SEQ ID NO:2) and a second antibody that specifically binds an epitope that is present in both full-length CK18 and the CK18 protein fragment, and that does not overlap with SEQ ID NO:1 or SEQ ID NO:14, under conditions such that the CK1 8 protein fragment present in the sample specifically binds to the first antibody and the second antibody, wherein one of the antibodies is bound to a solid support and the other antibody is bound to a detection moiety capable of producing a signal; optionally removing any unbound or excess material; and detecting the signal from the detection moiety, wherein the signal is positively correlated with the presence of the CK18 protein fragment in the sample.

The invention relates to cell death of cancer cells, and in particular to biomarkers that may be used to identify cancer cells that are sensitive to death receptor ligand (DRL)-induced cell death. The invention also extends to prognostic methods and kits for identifying cancer cells that are sensitive to DRL-induced cell death. The invention further extends to novel compositions and therapeutic methods using such compositions for treating cancer.

The present invention relates to methods for detecting cell death in a cell or a sample comprising cells, or in cultured cells in vitro by detecting the level of calcitonin receptor. The present invention also relates to methods of imaging cell death in a subject, compositions useful for detecting cell death in a cell or in a subject, methods of screening for modulators of cell death, and methods of staging and monitoring the progress of disease by detecting cell death.

Genetically encoded death indicator (GEDI) polypeptides and nucleic acid molecules encoding such polypeptides are provided. In addition, methods of using such nucleic acids and polypeptides to monitor cell death events in vitro and in vivo, particularly in neuronal cell death, are also provided.

The present application relates, in some aspects, to the development of an assay that uses cell survival and/or cell viability as a phenotypic identifier to positively select for agents that destabilize a protein of interest.

The invention disclosed herein is for an in vitro cell-based assay for predicting the conversion from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer's disease in a patient who has received a diagnosis of MCI. The method comprises the following steps: a) culturing human hippocampal progenitor cells in a culture medium comprising serum, obtained from said patient, during a period of proliferation of said progenitor cells; b) subsequently culturing said hippocampal progenitor cells in a culture medium comprising serum, obtained from said patient, during a period of differentiation of said progenitor cells; c) determining the level of proliferation of said cultured progenitor cells; d) determining the average cell count of said cultured progenitor cells; and e) monitoring apoptotic cell death after differentiation of the proliferated hippocampal progenitor cells, wherein the outcomes of each of (c) to (e) are applied to a statistical analysis, the result of which is predictive of conversion from MCI to AD in the patient.

A method of detecting activation of a necroptosis activation pathway in a subject is disclosed. The method comprising: (a) obtaining a biological sample comprising exosomes from the subject; (b) detecting an activity or expression of a component of the necroptosis activation pathway in an exosome fraction of the biological sample, wherein an increase in the activity or expression of the component of the necroptosis activation pathway indicates the activation of said necroptosis activation pathway. Methods of diagnosing necroptosis or inflammation by determining the level of exosomes in a biological sample. Method of modulating endocytosis by inhibiting MLKL or a cell surface receptor and a pharmaceutical composition comprising a population of exosomes comprising a component of the necroptosis activation pathway and its use in therapy of diseases, such as inflammation and cancer.