Dye-loaded fluorescent polymeric nanoparticles working as light-harvesting nano-antenna, which efficiently transfer the excitation energy to acceptor dyes and, therefore, amplifies emission of the latter are provided.

A mobile phone-based dark field microscope (MDFM) apparatus suitable for quantifying nanoparticle signals is provided. The MDFM apparatus includes an electrically operated light source, a dark-field condenser, a slide housing configured to receive an analytical slide, and an adapter housing configured to receive an objective lens and receive a portable electronic communication device. The slide housing positions the analytical slide between the objective lens and the dark-field condenser. The adapter housing registers the objective lens with a camera lens of the portable electronic communication device. A method for performing a biological quantitative study using the dark-field microscope apparatus is further provided.

Provided are aggregate alpha-synuclein specific antibodies as well as fragments, derivatives, and variants thereof as well as method related thereto for the early diagnostic and treatment of Parkinson's Disease and other Lewy body- and Lewy neurite-based diseases. Assays, kits, systems, and nanoparticle encapsulated compositions related to the antibodies or fragments, derivatives, and variants thereof are also disclosed.

The present disclosure provides a method for detection of an analyte in a sample, where the sample is introduced into an analytic chamber along with droplets of an emulsion or gel beads. In another aspect, the present disclosure provides designs for formulations of emulsion drops or gel beads such that they are useful for detection of analytes in a massively parallel manner. Formulations that contain specific combinations of fluorescent particles allow optical determination of the identity of each fluorescent particle. The combinations are based on particle fluorescence emission wavelength, fluorescence excitation wavelength, and particle count.

The present invention relates to diagnostic test and technology. In particular, it relates to a method for determining an analyte suspected to be present in a sample comprising contacting said sample with at least one sensor element comprising at least one binding agent which is capable of specifically binding to the analyte and which comprises at least one magnetic label; and in functional proximity thereto a magnetic tunnel junction generating a signal which is altered upon binding of the analyte to the binding agent for a time and under conditions which allow for specific binding of the analyte suspected to be present in the sample to the at least one binding agent, measuring an altered signal generated by the magnetic tunnel junction upon analyte binding to the at least one binding agent comprising the at least one magnetic label, and determining the analyte based on the altered signal which is generated by the magnetic tunnel junction. The present invention further relates to a device for determining an analyte suspected to be present in a sample and for using such a device. Moreover, the present invention furthermore relates to an aptamer which is capable of specifically binding to an analyte and which comprises at least one magnetic label and a method for identifying such an aptamer. Finally, the invention relates to a kit for determining an analyte suspected to be present in a sample.

A method for detecting an analyte reactive towards luminol, comprising the steps of: feeding into a reaction chamber an alkaline solution of luminol, noble metal nanoparticles and at least one analyte reactive towards luminol, wherein the reaction chamber is in the form of a curved channel; detecting the light emitted due to a chemiluminescence reaction taking place in said channel; and discharging a reaction mass from said channel, characterized in that the average diameter of the metal nanoparticles is greater than 25 nm. Also provided is a microfluidic device for carrying out the method.

Biosensing platform for simultaneous, multiplexed, high throughput and ultra-sensitive optical detection of biomarkers labelled with plasmonic nanoparticles, the platform being provided with a biosensor, a broadband and continuous spectrum illumination source, an optical detector for simultaneously capturing spatially resolved and spectrally resolved the scattering signal of each individual nanoparticle, an autofocus system and an optical system adapted to collect the scattered signal of the biosensor's surface onto the optical detector, the platform being provided with translation means for the optical system and/or the biosensor, such that the optical system and the biosensor can be displaced relative to each other in the three dimensions, and wherein the processing means are adapted to: i) simultaneously capture spatially and spectrally resolved scattering signals from each nanoparticle individually, and ii) to analyze these signals simultaneously with the capture process.

A method for screening secretion-producing cells is provided, in which a cell that produces a secretion of interest is subjected to screening from a plurality of cells. The method includes capturing the cell and at least one detection particle that is allowed to capture the secretion of interest in each of a plurality of wells having a bottom section with a through-hole sized such that the cell does not pass through, causing the cell captured in each of the plurality of wells to produce a secretion, detecting the secretion of interest captured by the at least one detection particle, and identifying, based on a result of the detection as an index, a well in which a cell producing the secretion of interest is captured from the plurality of wells. Each of the wells has a size allowing the cell to be captured in one cell unit in a state in which one or more detection particles are captured.

The present invention relates to a method and a DNA nanostructure for detecting a target structure. In particular, the present invention relates to a DNA nanostructure, which ensures a preferably linear dependence on the number of marker molecules and the measurement signal regardless of the physical arrangement of a plurality of such DNA nanostructures by virtue of the skilled selection of the shape of the DNA nanostructure and the placement of the marker molecules attached to it. The invention additionally relates to the use of said DNA nanostructures and other nanoreporters, preferably in combination with adapters which bind specifically to target molecules, in a method for quantifying a plurality of target molecules, preferably in a simultaneous manner, using a multiplex method.

Provided herein are compositions and methods for identifying or quantitating one or more analytes in sample. The composition can comprise an affinity molecule reversibly conjugated to a label moiety via a double-stranded nucleic acid linker or via an adaptor molecule. The affinity molecule and the label moiety can be linked to different strands of the double-stranded nucleic acid linker. Compositions can be used in any biological assays for detection, identification and/or quantification of target molecules or analytes, including multiplex staining for molecular profiling of individual cells or cellular populations. For example, the compositions can be adapted for use in immunofluorescence, fluorescence in situ hybridization, immunohistochemistry, western blot, and the like.