Compositions comprising a red blood cell (RBC) having non-toxically coupled thereto a nanoparticle having a low shear modulus or low Young's modulus of less than 10 MPa and containing a drug are provided. In one embodiment, the nanoparticles are optionally coated with protein. In another embodiment, the nanoparticle has no cell-specific targeting moiety or tissue-specific targeting moiety or organ-specific targeting moiety associated therewith. Methods of delivering selected drugs to target organs use these compositions both in vivo and ex vivo treatment of disease and for imaging.

Provided herein are methods for delivering a molecule in situ to a cell and for treating a cancer via the in situ delivery. The methods comprise contacting or administering to the cell, as two separate components, a morpholino oligonucleotide comprising a targeting moiety followed by a single wall nanotube construct comprising second morpholino oligonucleotides complementary to the first morpholino oligonucleotides and one or both of a therapeutic or diagnostic payload molecule linked to the single wall nanotube construct. Upon self-assembly of a single wall nanotube complex via hybridization of the first morpholino and second complementary morpholino oligonucleotides at the cell, the payload molecule is delivered. Also provided is the two component self-assembly single wall nanotube system and the single wall nanotube construct comprising the second component.

The present invention is directed generally to eukaryotic cells comprising single-celled organisms that are introduced into the eukaryotic cell through human intervention and which transfer to daughter cells of the eukaryotic cell through at least five cell divisions, and methods of introducing such single-celled organisms into eukaryotic cells. The invention also provides methods of using such eukaryotic cells. The invention further provides single-celled organisms that introduce a phenotype to eukaryotic cells that is maintained in daughter cells. The invention additionally provides eukaryotic cells containing magnetotactic bacteria.

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

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.

Methods of ex vivo labeling of a biological material for in vivo imaging, methods of labeling a biological material in vivo, methods for preparing a labeling agent, and methods for in vivo imaging of a subject using a biological material labeled with a labeling agent are disclosed. In one non-limiting example, the biological material is selected from cells and the labeling agent is a .sup.89Zr-Desferrioxamine-NCS labeling agent.

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

The present invention is directed generally to eukaryotic cells comprising single-celled organisms that are introduced into the eukaryotic cell through human intervention and which transfer to daughter cells of the eukaryotic cell, and methods of introducing such single-celled organisms into eukaryotic cells. The invention provides single-celled organisms that introduce a phenotype to eukaryotic cells that is maintained in daughter cells. The invention additionally provides eukaryotic cells containing magnetic bacteria. The invention further provides eukaryotic cells engineered with single-celled organisms to allow for multimodal observation of the eukaryotic cells. Each imaging method (or modality) allows the visualization of different aspects of anatomy and physiology, and combining these allows the imager to learn more about the subject being imaged.

The present invention is directed generally to eukaryotic cells comprising single-celled organisms that are introduced into the eukaryotic cell through human intervention and which transfer to daughter cells of the eukaryotic cell, and methods of introducing such single-celled organisms into eukaryotic cells. The invention provides single-celled organisms that introduce a phenotype to eukaryotic cells that is maintained in daughter cells. The invention additionally provides eukaryotic cells containing magnetic bacteria. The invention further provides eukaryotic cells engineered with single-celled organisms to allow for multimodal observation of the eukaryotic cells. Each imaging method (or modality) allows the visualization of different aspects of anatomy and physiology, and combining these allows the imager to learn more about the subject being imaged.

A method for internal imaging of biological tissue in a subject by positron emission tomography (PET) or single photon emission computer tomography (SPECT), the method comprising: (i) administering to a subject an imaging agent that includes, at minimum, at least one fluorine-18 radionuclide bound directly or indirectly to a fluorophore, and (ii) imaging internal biological tissue of the subject by PET or SPECT. In further embodiments, the method includes (i) administering to a subject an imaging agent that includes at least one fluorine-18 radionuclide bound directly or indirectly to a fluorophore, and at least one biological entity (e.g., blood cell, peptide, nucleotide, aptamer, targeting agent, antibody, or antibody fragment) bound directly or indirectly to the fluorophore; and (ii) imaging internal biological tissue of the subject by PET or SPECT. In some embodiments, the method further includes simultaneously imaging the internal biological tissue by fluorescence imaging.