The present invention relates to an immunoassay for the detection of Borrelia specific IgG, IgM and IgG/IgM antibodies in biological samples suspected of Lyme infection. The immunoassay can be performed via a standard immunoassay format or on an automated platform. In various embodiments, the immunoassay uses one or more Borrelia specific chimeric peptides VlsE-FlaB (designated pFlaB-mV), VlsE-ErpP (designated pErp59-mV), VlsE-P35 (designated pP35-mV) alone or in combination with one or more outer surface protein C (Osp C) types B or I, p58 and DbpA. Other aspects of the invention provide antigen/substrate combinations and compositions comprising combinations of the disclosed peptides and/or proteins for use in the immunoassays described herein.

The present invention provides methods of predicting, diagnosing, and prognosing disease in a patient by analyzing the microbiome signature present in isolated exosomes. In one embodiment, provided herein are methods of detecting a microbiome in a patient, the method comprising: (a) obtaining a body fluid sample from a patient; (b) isolating an exosomes fraction of the body fluid sample; and (c) detecting a microbial macromolecule present in the exosomes fraction.

The invention describes fully native human neutralizing monoclonal antibodies against tetanus toxin. The invention developed fully native human neutralizing monoclonal antibodies against tetanus toxin through a systematic high through-put platform that is specialized for identifying and developing human native antibody. The neutralizing monoclonal antibodies described in the invention can be used in the prevention, treatment and detection of Clostridium tetani infection. The fully human neutralizing monoclonal antibodies developed in the invention have a high affinity toward tetanus toxin, as well as possessing high neutralizing activities against the toxin, safe of use with high disease prevention effectiveness, free of exogenous virus contamination, and are widely applicable to various human groups with strong industrial applications.

An immunogenic polypeptide selected from an isolated Clostridium perfringens pilus polypeptide, a variant of the pilus polypeptide; a fragment of the pilus polypeptide; and a fragment of the variant, is useful for the preparation of a vaccine for the treatment or prevention of enteric necrosis in poultry. The isolated Clostridium perfringens pilus polypeptide includes an assembled pilus or the pilus subunits CnaA, FimA and/or FimB.

Compositions and methods are provided that reduce the time required for detection of botulinum neurotoxins in cell-based assays. In one aspect an isoquinolynyl compound can be used for this purpose. In such cell-based assays the cell can include an enzyme that facilitates degradation of the reporter significantly faster after the cleavage than before the cleavage, and presence of the Botulinum toxin correlates with reduction of the signal from a baseline signal. The cell can advantageously express both the construct that includes the reporter, and an enzyme that facilitates the degradation.

Traditional methods of detecting blood-borne microbial species in patients suspected of sepsis can be relatively slow, lack sensitivity, and require large volumes of blood. The present invention relates to methods of detecting microbial species in platelet rich plasma, which can be done more rapidly, with greater sensitivity, and with smaller volumes of blood to ensure more prompt and reliable diagnosis and treatment. The present invention also relates to improved methods of antibiotic treatment for patients diagnosed with a microbial infection and improved methods of excluding the diagnosis of viral infection exhibiting symptoms similar to sepsis.

Methods for diagnosis of bacterial and viral infections are disclosed. In particular, the invention relates to the use of biomarkers that can determine whether a patient with acute inflammation has a bacterial or viral infection.

The application provides new and improved methods for diagnosing IBS.

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), small compounds that often exhibitbroad spectrum antimicrobial activity, are garnering interest as potential therapeutics against antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens. Development of new AMPs is arduous due to the practical limitations of classical protein-based discovery approaches. A high throughput bioinformatics approach is described which is able to confirm identification of known AMPs from the North American bullfrog (Rana (Lithobates) catesbeiana) genome, and a bioinformatics approach is used to develop new AMPs. The described AMPs exhibit antimicrobial activity against Mycobacterium smegmatis via microtitre broth dilution assays, indicating broader efficacy.

The present invention relates to an immunodiagnostic kit and method for co-detection of R. solanacearum and F. oxysporum that cause bacterial wilt disease and fungal wilt disease, respectively, which are difficult to accurately diagnose due to the overlapping onset time and similar disease symptoms thereof in plants, and to a test kit for determining a pathogen of plant wilt disease in an early stage by using a semi-quantitative lateral flow immunodiagnostic technique to detect the pathogen in a plant juice. In addition, the kit and method can semi-quantitatively measure a density of a pathogen to determine a degree of infection to the plant. According to the configuration of the present invention, the kit and method can simultaneously detect R. solanacearum and F. oxysporum in a separate manner and as such, is helpful in accurately diagnosing diseases more easily within a shorter period of time than conventional observation by naked eye or microorganism separation and identification methods. Therefore, the present invention can advantageously contribute to the selection by farmers of chemicals for treatment of plant diseases.