The present invention describes an integrated apparatus that enables identification of migratory cells directly from a specimen. The apparatus only requires a small number of cells to perform an assay and includes novel topographic features which can reliably differentiate between migratory and non-migratory cell populations in a sample. Both the spontaneous and chemotactic migration of cancer cells may be measured to distinguish between subpopulations within a tumor sample. The migratory cells identified using the apparatus and methods of the present invention may be separated and further analyzed to distinguish factors promoting metastasis within the population. Cells in the apparatus can be treated with chemotherapeutic or other agents to determine drug strategies to most strongly inhibit migration. The use of optically transparent materials in some embodiments allows a wide range of imaging techniques to be used for in situ imaging of migratory and non-migratory cells in the apparatus. The apparatus and methods of the present invention are useful for predicting the metastatic propensity of tumor cells and selecting optimal drugs for personalized therapies.

The present invention relates to a method for diagnosis of bile duct cancer, using methionyl-tRNA synthetase (MRS) in bile duct cells of a latent patient.

A method of diagnosing lung cancer in a subject-in-need thereof is provided. The method comprises: (a) providing a biological sample of the subject which comprises peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs); (b) in vitro contacting the PBMCs with a stimulant selected from the group consisting of the stimulants listed in Tables 3 and 4; and (c) measuring metabolic activity of the PBMCs having been contacted according to (b), wherein a statistically significant change in the metabolic activity of the PBMCs as compared to a control sample is indicative of lung cancer.

The present invention provides self-contained systems for performing an assay for determining a chemical state, the system including a stationary cartridge for performing the assay therein, at least one reagent adapted to react with a sample; and at least one reporter functionality adapted to report a reaction of the at least one reagent with said sample to report a result of the assay, wherein the at least one reagent, the sample and the at least one reporter functionality are contained within the cartridge.

The invention relates to a method for the determination and visualization of the spatial distribution of tissue states of a tissue sample, wherein a mass/mobility map is acquired at each of a plurality of sample sites of the tissue sample, the signal heights at each sample site are determined at characteristic signal positions in the corresponding mass/mobility map, from which a tissue state for each sample site is calculated with the aid of a mathematical/statistical classification algorithm, and the spatial distribution of the tissue states calculated for the sample sites is represented graphically.

A method is provided which noninvasively monitors cells and which can accurately determine the progression of differentiation of the cells. This method, for evaluating the differentiation state of cells during culturing for inducing undifferentiated pluripotent stem cells to differentiate into desired cells, determines the progression of induced differentiation using any of the metabolites of glycolysis or any of the metabolites of the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA cycle), the metabolites being selected from among two or more types of amino acids contained in the culture solution or components in the culture solution derived from metabolism of the cells.

Disclosed are methods of identifying a secretome from a subject cell within a heterogeneous cell population when the subject cell contacts a target cell (e.g. a subject immune cell contacts a target cancer cell) or a stimulatory agent and methods of using the identified secretome to identify cells that are safe and efficacious for cellular therapies, including adoptive CAR T-cell therapies.

Provided is a method for simply obtaining a desired size fraction from an aqueous sample containing particles. The method includes the following steps: (1) bringing the aqueous sample containing particles into contact with a superabsorbent polymer to obtain a superabsorbent polymer gel containing a portion of the particles, and (2) mixing the superabsorbent polymer gel with a salt to recover a portion of the particles.

A method and/or system can include processing a blood sample of a patient by degrading red blood cells of the blood sample using a lysing solution, quenching the degradation of the red blood cells after a threshold lysing time, centrifuging and aspirating the quenched solution to remove degraded red blood cell debris and concentrate white blood cells of the blood sample, and suspending the concentrated white blood cells in a buffer solution; within a threshold transfer time, deforming white blood cells, of the suspended white blood cells, within a microfluidic chip; and determining a probability that the patient is in an immune activation state based on images of the white blood cells acquired while deforming the white blood cells.

This disclosure provides a method for determining male fertility status. The method comprises determining G.sub.M1 distribution patterns following induced sperm capacitation, identifying the frequency of distribution of various patterns, and determining if the frequency distribution of certain G.sub.M1 patterns in response to induced capacitation is altered. Based on the change in the frequency distribution patterns of certain patterns in response to induced capacitation, alone or in combination with other sperm attributes, male fertility status can be identified.