The present invention is related to detecting respiratory diseases using molecular markers as prognostic tool of the evolution of respiratory infection cases. Concretely, during the differential diagnostic of respiratory infections caused by the Syncytial Respiratory Virus and human Metapneumovirus, it will be established the expression pattern of the severity markers of IL-3, IL-33 and IL12p40. The expression pattern of the molecular markers can be defined in biological samplers using ELISA assays, flow cytometry or PCR in real time. The confirmation of the etiological agent of the infection in combination to the pattern definition of the molecular markers IL-3, IL-33 and IL12p40 will indicate a prognostic of the disease severity.

The present invention provides a method for identifying a synthetic classifier including contacting at least a first and second samples derived from different groups of a cohort with a first plurality of peptides. The first plurality of peptides includes a first subset of peptides defining at least one naturally occurring amino acid sequence, and a second subset of peptides defining a plurality of variants of the first subset of peptides. The plurality of variants includes, for each one of the first subset of peptides, a variant peptide having at least one of a substitution, a deletion, an insertion, an extension, and a modification. The method further includes selecting at least one of the plurality of variants from the second subset of peptides, and defining a synthetic classifier including the at least one of the plurality of variants that distinguishes between samples derived from the first and second cohorts.

A method is provided that includes rinsing an oral cavity of a subject with a rinse liquid. Thereafter, a gargle liquid is introduced into the oral cavity and gargled by the subject. Thereafter, at least a portion of the gargled liquid is collected as a specimen sample. Other embodiments are also described.

The present invention relates to a method for assessing susceptibility of a virus to treatment with a drug inhibiting an enzyme of the wild-type virus comprising the steps: a) extracting the viral enzyme from a sample containing the virus; b) measuring the viral enzyme activity both in the absence of the drug and in the presence of the drug at a single predetermined concentration; and c) determining the virus' susceptibility to treatment with the drug from the relation between the enzyme activities in the presence of the drug and the absence of the drug. The invention further relates to a system for performing the method.

The invention relates to a method of assembling a biosensor device comprising two or more biosensor units, wherein each unit comprises one or more biosensors comprising one or more carbon nanotubes (CNTs) coated with nucleic acid and one or more sensor molecules coupled to the nucleic acid, wherein each one of the one or more sensor molecules is capable of binding to a target molecule in a sample. Each biosensor unit is capable of detecting a different target molecule in a sample, and each unit comprises one or more biosensors each capable of detecting the same target molecule. The invention further relates to biosensor devices and methods for detecting target molecules in a sample using the same.

Disclosed herein are compositions and methods that involve inserting connector protein channels of bacteriophage DNA packaging motors into copolymeric membranes via liposome-polymer fusion, which can be used as nanopore sensors for biomedical applications such as high throughput protein sequencing or cancer diagnosis. For example, disclosed are compositions comprising a copolymeric membrane into which a connector protein channel of a bacteriophage packaging motor has been inserted.

Disclosed herein are methods and systems for rapid detection of microorganisms such as bacteria in a sample. A genetically modified bacteriophage is also disclosed which comprises an indicator gene encoding one subunit of an indicator protein. The specificity of the bacteriophage allows detection of a particular bacteria of interest and an indicator signal may be amplified to optimize assay sensitivity.

Provided are antibacterial phages that selectively kill bacteria having a drug resistance gene or the like. Antibacterial phage for this includes CRISPR-Cas13a with a target sequence that recognizes a specific gene as a target. This target sequence is designed as a spacer sequence for crRNA of 14-28 bases. Specific genes are drug resistance genes and toxins. The drug resistance genes are included in bacterial genomes and/or plasmids having one or any combination of the group including: methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant enterococci, penicillin-resistant pneumococcus, multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, carbapenem-resistant cephalosporins, third-generation cephalosporin-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, third-generation cephalosporin-resistant E. coli, and fluoroquinolone-resistant E. coli.

One non-limiting and exemplary embodiment provides a metal microscopic structure capable of detecting a low-concentration analyte with high sensitivity. The metal microscopic structure includes a base member including multiple protrusions arrayed at predetermined intervals, and multiple projections made of a metal film covering the base member and configured to generate surface plasmons upon irradiation with light. A film thickness of the metal film positioned in a bottom portion of a gap between every adjacent two of the multiple projections is greater than a height of the multiple protrusions and is more than or equal to 90% and less than or equal to 100% of a film thickness of the metal film deposited on top portions of the multiple protrusions.

Disclosed herein is a method for validation of continuous viral clearance comprising the steps of providing a probe to be validated, spiking the probe in a valid manner, performing viral clearance, sampling the spiked probe and analyzing the sample of the spiked probe of step d).