A diagnostic and prognostic method and system for sequentially analyzing in a biological fluid or tissue extract the presence of an antigenic infectious agent, infectious organism or its toxic product; an antibody response to the antigenic infectious agent, infectious organism or its toxic product; one or more biomarkers formed during infection in response to a communicable disease; and one or more biomarkers to assess the severity of the disease and to monitor the effectiveness of drug therapy or vaccination.

An air sampling system is disclosed. The air sampling system includes: an air inflow channel having an air inlet portion at a top end, the air inflow channel being oriented substantially vertically; a fan configured to cause air in a sampling environment to flow into the air inflow channel via the inlet portion; a cooling unit for cooling air in the air inflow channel, the cooling unit disposed downstream of the inlet portion; a collection chamber for collecting liquid water condensed from air in the air inflow channel, the collection chamber being fluidly connected to the air inflow channel; and a sensing unit for determining a volume of liquid in the collection chamber, wherein the cooling unit is controlled in response to signals generated by the sensing unit.

Devices that includes a first portion, the first portion including at least one fluid channel; a fluid actuator; an analysis sensor disposed within the fluid channel; a conductivity sensor disposed within the fluid channel; and an introducer; a second portion, the second portion comprising: at least one well, the well containing at least one material, wherein one of the first or second portion is moveable with respect to the other, wherein the introducer is configured to obtain at least a portion of the material from the at least one well and deliver it to the fluid channel, and wherein the fluid actuator is configured to move at least a portion of the material in the fluid channel.

Some embodiments described herein relate to a method that includes separating an analyte-containing sample via electrophoresis in a capillary. The capillary is loaded with a chemiluminescence agent, such as luminol, that is configured to react with the analyte (e.g., HRP-conjugated proteins) to produce a signal indicative of a concentration and/or quantity of analyte at each location along the length of the capillary. A first image of the capillary containing the analytes and the chemiluminescence agent is captured over a first period of time. A second image of the capillary containing the analytes and the chemiluminescence agent is captured over a second, longer, period of time. A concentration and/or quantity of a first population of analytes at a first location is determined using the first image, and a concentration and/or quantity of a second population of analytes at a second location is determined using the second image.

Non-limiting embodiments of a modified solid reagent zone comprising at least hydrophilic polysaccharide and/or at least one hydrophilic non-polysaccharide polymer for use in the conductance of at least one diagnostic assay, as well as kits and methods of use and production related thereto.

Methods and kits for capturing extracellular vesicles from a fluid sample, including: providing a microfluidic chip having a device for capturing extracellular vesicles from the fluid sample; flowing the fluid sample through a fluid channel defined by a channel-defining layer in the microfluidic chip so as to capture extracellular vesicles from the fluid sample; removing a membrane from the device for capturing extracellular vesicles after providing the fluid sample; and collecting the extracellular vesicles captured from the fluid sample.

High-throughput methods for screening large populations of variant proteins are provided. The methods utilize large-scale arrays of microcapillaries, where each microcapillary comprises a solution containing a variant protein, an immobilized target molecule, and a reporter element. Immobilized target molecules may include any molecule of interest, including proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, and other biomolecules. The association of a variant protein with a molecular target is assessed by measuring a signal from the reporter element. The contents of microcapillaries identified in the assays as containing variant proteins of interest can be isolated, and cells expressing the variant proteins of interest can be characterized. Also provided are systems for performing the disclosed screening methods.

Provided herein are methods of assessing or validating a cleaning procedure of a biotherapeutic manufacturing process, said method comprising analyzing by a surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-based assay the binding activity of a cleaned sample to a ligand which binds to a biotherapeutic produced by the manufacturing process. In various embodiments, the cleaning procedure comprises one or more steps to inactivate and/or degrade the biotherapeutic. In various instances, the method demonstrates that greater than about 99.99% degradation of the therapeutic is achieved by the cleaning procedure comprising the one or more steps to inactivate and/or degrade the biotherapeutic.

Described herein is a device and method for translocating a protein through a nanopore and monitoring electronic changes caused by different amino acids in the protein. The device comprises a nanopore in a membrane, an amplifier for providing a voltage between the cis side and trans side of the membrane, and an NTP driven unfoldase which processed the protein to be translocated. The exemplified unfoldase is the ClpX unfoldase from E. coli.

Systems and methods for levitating populations of moieties, cells, or other such units using one or more magnets in a microfluidic environment are provided. These systems and methods may be used to, for example, separate or sort heterogeneous populations of the units from one another, to assembly a multi-unit assembly during the levitating of the units, and to evaluate samples at the point of care in real-time. These systems and methods may also utilize a frame that enables an imaging device, such as a smartphone, to capture the units in real time as they are manipulated in the system.