The invention relates to methods for detecting and/or characterising a nanovesicle in a sample or a method of detecting a target that is bound or associated with said nanovesicle, wherein the sample is brought into contact with nanoparticles that are capable of binding on the surface of nanovesicle and form, in situ, a nanoshell that surround said nanovesicle. In a preferred embodiment, the nanovesicle is exosome labelled with fluorescent probes and the nanoparticles are gold nanoparticles (AuNP). The invention also relates to a kit or microfluidic chip for performing such methods, as well as a method of determining the prognosis of a cancer in a subject by performing such methods.

The invention relates to methods, compositions, kits, and assay systems for assay signal amplification. Also provided herein is a signal amplification reagent, wherein the signal amplification reagent is an antibody or antigen-binding fragment thereof.

In some aspects, the present disclosure relates to methods for reducing the crowding of signals, for example optical crowding, that can occur when nucleic acids are detected in a sample in multiplex, which can make it difficult to resolve individual signals and can lead to a reduced dynamic range. In some aspects, the present disclosure relates to methods for reducing signal crowding in the detection of multiple target nucleic acid sequences in a sample, e.g., using hybridization probes, wherein signal crowding from said hybridization probes is reduced. The methods herein have particular applicability in the detection of barcode sequences by sequencing-by-hybridization (SBH) methods, including those relying on combinatorial labelling schemes and decoding of the barcodes by sequential cycles of decoding using hybridization probes. Also provided are kits comprising probes for use in such methods.

Methods and systems for operating a flow cytometer can include forward scatter values, side scatter values, and fluorescence intensity values for events of an unstained sample and associating the fluorescence intensity values with forward scatter-side scatter side scatter plot regions. Methods and systems for operating a flow cytometer can also include measuring forward scatter values, side scatter values, and fluorescence intensity values for events of a stained sample, determining forward scatter-side scatter plot locations for the events of the stained sample, and for each event of the stained sample, subtracting the fluorescence intensity value associated with the forward scatter-side scatter plot region that contains the forward scatter-side scatter plot location of the stained sample event from the measured fluorescence intensity value of the stained sample event at that forward scatter-side scatter plot location.

The present random access PCR reactor for biological analysis, comprises of a number of PCR reactors held on a platform, and one optical system to be shared by all of the PCR reactors on the platform. The optical system is held on a traverse mechanism to move it over any one of the PCR reactors that are ready to be imaged. Other PCR reactors on the platform can be accesses and replaced. The optical system has a lightpipe and a lightguide that distributes a uniform light over all the samples held on the reactor. The lightguide of the present optical system has a set of light reflecting structures that are strategically located to uniformly reflect an incoming light towards all the samples held in the PCR reactor that is being tested.

Disclosed is an apparatus and method for fluorescence excitation and detection. The apparatus comprises one or more light sources for providing excitation light for fluorescence excitation at an observation spot along an optical axis for excitation, an optical collection element for collecting fluorescence light generated by the excitation light at two or more different observation spots into two or more different measurement channels with an optical axis for collecting non-parallel to the optical axis for excitation of each of the one or more light sources, and, for each of the two or more measurement channels and thereby for each of the two or more observation spots, a dedicated optical detector for detecting fluorescence from the fluorescence light collected by the optical collection element.

Aspects of the technology described herein relate to improved semiconductor-based image sensor designs. In some embodiments, an integrated circuit may comprise a photodetection region and a drain region electrically coupled to the photodetection region, and the photodetection region may be configured to induce an intrinsic electric field in a direction from the photodetection region to the drain region(s). In some embodiments, an integrated circuit may comprise a plurality of pixels and a control circuit configured to control a transfer of charge carriers in a plurality of time-binning pixels. In some embodiments, an optical component for optical rejection is provided in between a waveguide and the time-binning pixel and configured to block at least some excitation photons in a pulsed light stream from arriving at the photodetection region. In some embodiments, the time-binning pixel does not comprise a time-gated transistor for electronic rejection configured to block a transfer of charge carriers associated with excitation photons in the pulsed light stream.

Techniques for multi-dimensional signal analysis are described herein. The techniques may be used in one or more sequencing applications. For example, according to some aspects, there is provided a method comprising: determining information about a sample that emits emission light in response to excitation light based on at least one of pulse duration and interpulse duration and at least two of wavelength, intensity, and lifetime of the emission light, wherein the sample comprises a reagent configured to be coupled to a luminescent label, and wherein a shielding element is disposed between the reagent and the luminescent label.

The invention includes, at minimum, an integrated, automated system for diagnosis of antibiotic resistance genes that performs microarray hybridization, washes, and reading, using a plurality of high-density glass and/or polymer microarray chips. The system may include one or more ring or circle-shaped microarray chips formed from glass and/or a polymer. The system may also include well plates pre-treated with one or more of fluorescently labeled primers, polymerase, dNTPs or other chemicals or reagents used to multiplex PCR identification of antibiotic resistance genes. The system may also include one or more of 96 or 128 sized well plates. The system may also include one or more centrifugation tubes having a nanopore filter fixed in place and/or a viscous solution for isolating smaller pathogens from larger host eukaryotic cells.

Polymers, monomers, chromophoric polymer dots and related methods are provided. Highly fluorescent chromophoric polymer dots with narrow-band emissions are provided. Methods for synthesizing the chromophoric polymers, preparation methods for forming the chromophoric polymer dots, and biological applications using the unique properties of narrow-band emissions are also provided.