This document provides digital microfluidics devices. For example, point-of-care digital microfluidics devices for removing white blood cells from a blood sample and preparing bacterial DNA in the sample for detection and/or identification are provided.

Methods of detecting the efficacy and presence of a biologic drug which uses one or more 2A peptide in its manufacture and/or final pharmaceutical formulation.

The present invention relates to a method for the diagnosis of a disease comprising contacting a donor tissue section with a liquid capable of extracting an antibody from said donor tissue section and contacting said liquid with an acceptor material comprising an antigen, followed by detection of a complex comprising the antibody and the antigen, and a diagnostically useful carrier comprising a donor tissue section and an acceptor material comprising an antigen.

The present invention relates to an in vitro method for the prognosis of survival of a patient suffering from a solid cancer, comprising the quantification of the cell density of CD8+ cells and DC-LAMP+ dendritic cells present in a tumor tissue sample from said patient, wherein a high density of CD8+ cells and DC-LAMP+ dendritic cells indicates that the patient has a favorable prognosis, a high density of CD8+ cells and a low density of DC-LAMP+ dendritic cells indicates that the patient has a poor prognosis, and a low density of CD8+ cells and DC-LAMP+ dendritic cells indicates that the patient has the worst prognosis.

The present invention provides a method of detecting platelet activation in a patient, the method comprising the steps of a) obtaining a blood sample from a patient suspected of having heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT); b) incubating an effective amount of platelet factor 4 (PF4) with a sample of platelets to yield a sample of PF4-treated platelets; c) contacting the patient blood sample with the PF4-treated platelets; and d) measuring the extent of platelet activation, wherein an increase in platelet activation compared with results obtained using a normal blood sample is indicative of the patient having HIT.

The present invention relates to a method of immobilizing a cell on a support, the method comprising a) providing a compound or salt thereof comprising, preferably consisting of, one or more hydrophobic domains attached to a hydrophilic domain, wherein the one or more hydrophobic domains are covalently bound to said hydrophilic domain, and wherein the one or more hydrophobic domains each comprise a linear lipid, a steroid or a hydrophobic vitamin, and wherein the hydrophilic domain comprises a polyethylene glycol (PEG) moiety, and wherein the compound comprises a linking group; b) contacting a cell with the compound under conditions allowing the interaction of the compound with the membrane of the cell, thereby immobilizing the linking group on the surface of the cell; and c) contacting the linking group immobilized on the cell with a support capable of binding the linking group, thereby immobilizing the cell on the support.

Autologous bone marrow cells (BMC) are transplanted to a heterologous site in a patient after a sample of the patient's BMC has been tested and found to have a phenotypic profile which meets minimum criteria for transplantation. The phenotypic profile may be obtained by screening a sample of bone marrow cells (BMC) from the patient for the phenotypic profile, such as a CD profile, the phenotype profile may be assessed to determine the likelihood that the BMC will be suitable for transplantation to the heterologous tissue site without enriching particular phenotypic population(s) of the BMC.

Methods for treating cancer, e.g., in conjunction with anti-cancer therapy, like immunotherapy, and for identifying candidate therapeutic agents, by targeting ICAM4. While MDSCs in mice have been extensively characterized, their human counterparts are not well defined, and cell markers present in mice are not always usable in humans. MDSCs have been described as a heterogenous population of myeloid derived cells with immune suppressive capacity (5, 9, 40, 41). Recent renewed interest in the role of MDSC accumulation in human tumors has resulted in the increased need to define these cells better in order to target them for therapeutic intervention.

Provided are age-modified cells and method for making age modified cells by reducing or increasing the level of genomic nucleic acid methylation in the cells. The aging and/or maturation process can be accelerated or reduced and controlled for young, aged, mature and/or immature cells, such as a somatic cell, a stem cell, a stem cell-derived somatic cell, including an induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cell, by reducing or increasing the level of genomic nucleic acid methylation in the cells. Methods described by the present disclosure can produce age-appropriate cells from a somatic cell or a stem cell, such as an old cell, young cell, immature cell, and/or a mature cell. Such age-modified cells constitute model systems for the study of late-onset diseases and/or disorders.

The methods and kits described herein are based, in part, to the discovery of a phenotype representing a fully-reprogrammed iPS cell and several reprogramming intermediates. The methods and kits described herein permit identification of fully-reprogrammed iPS cells and further permits one of skill in the art to monitor the emergence of iPS cells during the reprogramming process. The methods/kits can also be performed using real time using live cell imaging. Also described herein are methods for screening candidate reprogramming agents by monitoring the emergence of fully-reprogrammed iPS cells in the presence and absence of such an agent.