The invention relates to a non-invasive imaging method of bacteria. One embodiment comprises labeling the bacteria with a radioisotope, then delivering it to the gut of a human or animal. Another embodiment is to label bacteriophages, then administer them to a human or animal, so that they infect (and thus co-localize with) bacteria already resident in the human or animal. The bacteriophage can then be imaged, showing the location of the resident bacteria of interest. In another embodiment, the invention is related more generally to the labelling of bacteria or bacteriophages with a radio-metal or radioisotope to render the labeled gut bacteria and the bacteria in the body visible to nuclear medicine PET and SPECT imaging guided by functional/structural MRI and/or CT imaging. In another embodiment, the invention is related more generally to the labelling of bacteria or bacteriophages (both or just one) with a radio-metal or radioisotope to render the gut bacteria and the bacteria in the body visible to nuclear medicine PET and SPECT imaging guided by functional/structural MRI and/or CT imaging or visible by MRI alone or in combination with either PET or SPECT.

Systemic administration of intact, bacterially derived minicells results in rapid accumulation of the minicells in the microenvironment of a brain tumor, in therapeutically significant concentrations, without requiring endothelial endocytosis/transcytosis across the blood brain barrier or any other mechanism by which, pursuant to conventional approaches, nanoparticles have entered into that microenvironment. Accordingly, a wide variety of brain tumors, both primary and metastatic, can be treated by administering systemically a therapeutically effective amount of a composition comprised of a plurality of such minicells, each minicell being a vehicle for an active agent against the tumor, such as a radionuclide, a functional nucleic acid or a plasmid encoding one, or a chemotherapeutic agent.

The disclosure relates to compositions comprising isolated mitochondria or combined mitochondrial agents, and methods of treating disorders using such compositions.

A method of producing radiobacteria is provided, especially radiolisteria-.sup.32P. Compositions and methods of use thereof are also provided.

The present invention relates generally to the field of endosymbiosis, eukaryotic cells engineered with artificial endosymbionts, and magnetotactic bacteria. In particular, the invention provides single-celled organisms such as artificial endosymbionts, including magnetotactic bacteria, eukaryotic cells to host those single-celled organisms, and methods of using eukaryotic cells containing single-celled organisms. The invention also provides eukaryotic cells engineered with intracellular single-celled organisms which eukaryotic cells can be tracked in an animal and monitored for viability. The invention also provides for multimodal detection of a eukaryotic cell in an animal to monitor the location and viability of the eukaryotic cell.

The present invention is, in general, directed to nanoparticles for the delivery of agents to glioblastoma tumors. More particularly, the present invention relates to nanoparticle conjugates that deliver and release agents to a glioblastoma tumor. The invention is also directed to methods of delivering agents to glioblastoma tumors.

The invention provides a method of preparing a .sup.89Zr-oxine complex of the formula ##STR00001##
The invention also provides a method of labeling a cell with the .sup.89Zr-oxine complex and a method for detecting a biological cell in a subject comprising administering the .sup.89Zr-oxine complex to the subject.

This disclosure relates generally to compositions and methods for treating cancer. The compositions comprise bacterially derived intact minicells or intact killed bacterial cells.

Disclosed are methods, compositions of matter, and protocols useful for the detection of altered cells in a patient. Immune cells capable of clonal expansion are engineered to produce a soluble signal upon activation and/or clonal expansion. The cells may possess a suicide gene, inducible upon administration pharmacological or light/radiation activatable, so as to eliminate the cells from body when desired. In another embodiment, immune cells produce a localized marker, the marker being visible with imaging technology. In other embodiments cells capable of non-clonal expansion are utilized. The disclosure provides means of utilizing the immunosurveillance properties of immune cells to diagnose and localize diseases associated with alteration of host cells.

Cancer eradicating engineered bacteriophage are described that can display a high copy number of a targeting polypeptide that can bind a surface antigen of a cancer cell. The bacteriophage can also display a high copy number of a cancer therapy, one or more of a drug, a toxin, an inhibitor, a radionuclide, etc. The targeting polypeptides and the cancer therapies can be directly or indirectly fused to coat proteins of the phage. The engineered phage can exhibit high avidity for cancer cells and can deliver a large dose of a cancer therapy per particle to the cell.