Disclosed herein are stable and versatile protein nanoparticles having a range of tunable fluorescent properties. Such nanoparticles may find utility in biological imaging. Methods of synthesis of such nanoparticles are also disclosed.

Reagents, assays, methods, kits, devices, and systems for rapid measurement of cholesterol and cholesterol sub-fractions from a blood sample are provided. Total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, and high density lipoprotein cholesterol can be measured in a single assay using kinetic measurements, under conditions in which cholesterol sub-species are converted to a detectable product at distinct rates. The detectable product is measured at different times after assay initiation. A lipase, cholesterol esterase, cholesterol oxidase and a peroxidase may be used together to produce colored product in amounts directly proportional to the quantity of cholesterol converted. Methods for calculating very-low density lipoprotein cholesterol levels by further including triglyceride measurements are disclosed. Assays may be performed in a single reaction mixture, allowing more accurate and precise cholesterol determinations, including ratios of cholesterol sub-fractions to total cholesterol, at less expense, than would be expected by performing several different assays in different reaction mixtures.

The present invention discloses and claims novel pharmaceutical compositions, methods, and kits used for the contemporaneous, heterogeneously-oriented, multi-targeted therapeutic modification and/or modulation of cellular metabolic anomalies or other undesirable physiological conditions, including cancer, where the normal cellular biochemical function and/or the expression levels of various proteins/enzymes (i.e., the target molecules) are abnormal and must be modified and/or modulated in order to treat these metabolic anomalies or other undesirable physiological conditions, including cancer. The aforementioned target molecules, by way of non-limiting example, include: anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK), mesenchymal epithelial transition (MET) kinase, the receptor tyrosine kinase (ROS1), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), peroxiredoxin (Prx), excision repair cross-complementing protein 1 (ERCC1), insulin growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R), ribonucleotide reductase (RNR), tubulin, farnesyltransferase, and various other classes of proteins/enzymes. Additionally, the present invention discloses and claims methods and kits for (a) the selection of subjects for treatment; (b) the determination of the most effective medicinal agent(s) to be administered in combination with the administration of the sulfur-containing, amino acid-specific small molecules of the present invention; (c) the dosage of the medicinal agent(s) to be administered; (d) the determination of the length and/or number of treatment cycles; (e) the adjustment of the specific medicinal agent(s) used and the dosage administered during treatment; and/or (f) ascertaining the potential treatment responsiveness of the specific disease to the medicinal agents (s) selected for administration to a subject suffering from one or more types of: (i) cancer or (ii) metabolic anomalies or other undesirable physiological conditions by quantitatively determining the level of the abnormal biochemical activity and/or abnormal expression of any combination of the aforementioned target molecules; by use of quantitative measurement methodologies including, but not limited to: fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), nucleic acid microarray analysis, immunohistochemistry (IHC), radioimmunoassay (RIA), quantitative immunofluorescence and/or automated quantitative analysis; ELISA and flow cytometry-based analyses; PCR coupled with MS approaches; mass spectroscopy-based methods; and X-ray crystallography, and other related analytic methodologies.

The current invention concerns an in vitro method for (i) measuring, predicting, diagnosing, prognosing and/or monitoring chronic mental stress or for (ii) determining whether a subject is in need of therapeutic or prophylactic treatment of a chronic mental stress in a subject, comprising detecting at least three biomarkers independently selected at least three, different groups of biomarkers selected from a group of immune function biomarkers, a group of iron metabolism biomarkers, a group of metabolism biomarkers, a group of steroid hormone biomarkers, a group of sympathetic adrenal medullary axis biomarkers, and optionally a group of neurotransmitter biomarkers, in a sample obtained from said subject, and kits and computer programs for use in such methods.

The present disclosure relates to a method for predicting acute exacerbation of bronchiectasis. The use of the method and kit of the present disclosure allows for easy diagnosis of acute exacerbation of bronchiectasis through a quantitative indicator.

Lanthanide chelate lipid nanoparticles, and methods of their synthesis and use are described. Biological molecules labeled with the lipid nanoparticles, useful in bioaffinity assays with improved sensitivities are also described.

A novel combinatorial and high-throughput platform that enables rapid screening of complex and heterogeneous copolymer brushes as enzyme immobilization supports named Combinatorial High-throughput Enzyme Support Screening (CHESS). Using a 384 well-plate format, we synthesized arrays of three-component polymer brushes in the microwells using photo-activated surface-initiated polymerization, and immobilized enzymes in situ. The utility of CHESS to identify optimal immobilization supports under thermally and chemically denaturing conditions was demonstrated using Bacillus subtilis Lipase A (LipA). The identification of supports with optimal compositions was validated by immobilizing LipA on polymer-brush modified biocatalyst particles. We further demonstrated that CHESS could be used to predict the optimal composition of polymer brushes a priori for the previously unexplored enzyme, alkaline phosphatase (AlkP). Our findings demonstrate that CHESS represents a predictable and reliable platform for dramatically accelerating the search of chemical compositions for immobilization supports and further facilitate the discovery of biocompatible and stabilizing materials.

Methods for detecting RNA in a sample include contacting the sample with a probe featuring a binding oligonucleotide sequence that hybridizes to at least a portion of an RNA in the sample and a probe identification oligonucleotide sequence associated with the portion of the RNA to which the probe hybridizes, contacting the sample with a catalytic reporter, contacting the sample with an anchoring reporter featuring a substrate conjugated to at least one barcode oligonucleotide sequence, where the substrate reacts with the catalytic moiety to deposit the anchoring reporter or a derivative thereof comprising the at least one barcode oligonucleotide sequence in the sample at a location in proximity to the probe, and contacting the sample with a reporter molecule.

The present disclosure relates to anti-SARS-COV-2 antibodies and uses thereof in detecting intact multimeric and/or intact trimeric severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) spike protein in a sample.

A screening method for a drought-resistant germplasm of Ophiopogon japonicus related to the field of Ophiopogon japonicus planting is provided. The method uses Ophiopogon japonicus of the main production areas, which requires a large amount of water and rainfall during the growth period, the drought-resistant germplasm that is suitable for growing well is conducted with drought stress under the drought condition. The growth indicators and the physiological indicators of different Ophiopogon japonicus germplasm under drought stress conditions are comprehensively evaluated and ranked to evaluate the drought-resistant ability of the different germplasm. The screening method is scientific and effective, and can comprehensively evaluate the drought resistance ability of Ophiopogon japonicus under the drought stress conditions, laying a technical foundation for the screening and promotion of in the Ophiopogon japonicus with drought resistance ability.